Faerun Tales: The Treasure Hunters
by InfamousSharo
Summary: "There's gold involved." Quin called after him. Gold seemed to be this man's magic word. Bishop turned back. "Gold?"  "Lots of it."  First fanfic. Reviews much appreciated.
1. Chapter 1: One More Makes Three

**_Greetings, fellow readers and writers of fanfiction!_**

_What you are about to read is the first fanfiction story I have ever posted on this or any other website. It is also the first in a trilogy of stories I have planned. I can't say what inspired it. I just had a general idea of it floating around in my head for a while and then I just started writing it. I suppose I just wanted to play around with Bishop, try my hand at writing such a complex and challenging character. I have also been wanting to write a drow character._

_**A few small warnings:** This is an Alternate Universe. The original story has been told and I don't see any reason why it needs to be told over and over again. Besides, I like experimenting with What Ifs. This story has nothing to do with the original plotline. You will notice that the story starts off with a bit of silly humor. This decreases with the story's progression. Though the lack of humor in later chapters wasn't intentional, I rather like how it fades as the story becomes more serious. The humor is still there, but in bits and pieces, scattered about._

_**A note on reviews:** I appreciate them immensely. I would ask that you be specific on what you like and don't like. Constructive criticism is most welcome. I don't appreciate pointless and heinous flames. They will be used as toilet paper...you know, because flames are very absorbent. _

_**Finally, the disclaimer:** I, Sharo, have taken the liberty to borrow the ranger Bishop from Obsidian, BioWare, etc, etc. I **DO NOT** own him(but have the right to wish I did) or most of the locations and such mentioned in this story. What I **do** own is Jaelyn Sharpshadow, Quince Bramblebrow, and a handful of other characters, and one island._

_Now, without further ado..._

* * *

**Chapter One:**

**One More Makes Three**

**xxxxxx**

**Jaelyn** Sharpshadow eyed the next applicant with a sullen cast to her features, which were hidden in the shadowed depths of her cowl.

It was necessary to hide her face from the public. She was drow, and due to their long and unappealing history of evil and bloodshed, they were not welcome in society. The fact that she was only half drow didn't matter to the hundreds of pitch-fork wielding, sword-plying mobs that have run her out of the towns, villages, hamlets, and other assorted places of gathered and domesticated humanoids along the Sword Coast. In short, no one liked her.

That's why she became a ranger. The wilderness didn't seem to be as judgmental and close-minded as the more civilized places. Jaelyn found it to be quite ironic, actually. Besides, being an outcast your entire life, you came to appreciate the solitude and the fact that animals couldn't talk or curse or spit or hurl arrows, bolts and random blunt and sharp objects in your general direction.

During her travels in the south, she'd come across a halfling rogue named Quince Bramblebrow, who'd been fleeing the local authorities. He'd stolen a treasure map from one of his superiors in the Shadow Thief organization and was on the run.

Apparently his theft had stirred up the entire city of Amn, for when she first set eyes on the halfling, he had nearly the entire city guard and every Shadow Thief in the vicinity charging after him.

To this day, she had no idea why she did it, but she helped Quince escape his pursuers. She hid him in a cave and when they were sure the stubbornly persistent and dangerous looking men were gone, the halfling thanked her by insisting that she accompany him on his adventure to explore his new-found-or more appropriately, stolen-treasure map. Jaelyn had declined, given the fact that her hood had been pulled over her head at the time, keeping her nerfarious heritage unknown to the halfling. But Quince was not one to take no for an answer and when she had finally revealed herself to him, she was surprised that he wasn't. That was, Quince didn't seem to care that she was drow and had further commented that she had 'exotic beauty'.

It was the first time anyone had not outright shunned her. She liked the halfling; she had a feeling they were going to get on well.

That encounter had been over two months ago. Now they were companions, looking to hire on at least one more professional adventurer to accompany them on Quin's treasure map quest.

It was why they were in Port Llast at the Alliance Arms Inn. It was the perfect location to start looking, between two major cities; Neverwinter to the south and Luskan to the north. Adventurerers were passing in and out of the port constantly; they were bound to find someone interested in joining them.

Their current applicant was an old, hunched over man with a long, gray beard and a bald head freckled with age spots. He was the reason Jaelyn was suddenly in a bad mood.

"You're kidding, right?" she said to the man, who blinked his rheumy, pale blue eyes at her.

"Say again? Ye'll have to speak up, lass. My hearing ain't what it used to be." he replied, leaning across the table and cocking his 'good' ear at them.

"You understand we are looking for professional adventurers, right?"

"Indeed." the old man replied, confidently as he drew himself up only to have his back give out. He doubled over with a grimace and then looked up at them with a forced grin. "Was known quite well in my day! I've come to sign on with ya."

"But you're older than Faerun." Quince remarked from his seat beside Jaelyn. "You'll probably die walking out the front door of this inn!"

Jaelyn elbowed him. "Easy, Quin."

Quince glanced at her and spread his hands as if he couldn't help the words that came out of his mouth.

"What? It's true." he said and then looked back at the offended geriatric. "Shuffle off, grandpa. We've no time to waste on your pathetic attempts to relive your younger days. You're old; get over it."

"Why, I never!" the old man shouted, banging a gnarled, spotted and profusely veined hand on the table. "You younguns are gettin' more rude every day."

He tried to raise himself up proudly again, failed and wobbled off toward the exit.

Unfortunately, the moment the old man reached the door, it swung open in a violent manner, sending his small, fragile frame against the wall with a small thud. He slid down it, unconscious. No one bothered with him, though many looked up to wonder what had caused the faint noise and laughed briefly or simply went back to drinking their ale, uninterested. Men falling in bars was nothing to get excited about.

Quin grinned inanely. "Well, his troubles are over."

Jaelyn hit him in the side again with her elbow. "That was unnecessary."

From the open door stepped a seething, gruff-looking man and a wrathful, tired-looking half-elf woman. They argued colorfully with each other and loud enough to draw the attention of almost everyone in the common room who were sober-and conscious-enough to take an interest.

"The next time you pull something like that, I'm going to leave you to the Luskans, you stupid wench!" said the man.

"Oh, please do." replied the half-elf woman, venomously. "They would make much better company than you!"

They parted ways, the half-elf slapping some gold coins on the counter in front of the gawking inn owner before storming her way up the stairs. The gruff man scowled in her direction, scoffed and then stomped angrily over to bar, demanding ale and lots of it.

Jaelyn and Quin exchanged a look, both of them raising a brow and shrugging in unison to the disruptive outburst.

"They probably made the mistake of getting married." Quin remarked and stood from his seat to approach the bar, but he found himself hampered by something hanging onto his cloak.

It was a half-drow.

Jaelyn pulled him back into his spot. "What do you think you're doing?"

"I'm going to go see if that man is a possible candidate for our adventuring team."

"I'd rather you didn't."

"Why?"

"Because I didn't like the way he was talking to that woman."

"You don't know why he was talking to her like that. Maybe he had a good reason."

"There's no reason why he should've been calling her a wench."

"People say things when they're angry. Now, let go." Quin demanded while trying to jerk his cloak out of her grasp.

Jaelyn tightened her grip.

"He's a ranger." she pointed out, as if it were some kind of offensive, contagious disease instead of a class of person.

"And? So are you."

"Exactly. We don't need another one."

"Come on, Jae Bird." Quin replied. "What's another ranger if not another adventurer?"

"Fine." Jaelyn conceded. "But don't blame me if that uncouth fellow clobbers you. Oh, and for the love of all that is sacred in this existence, don't call me Jae Bird."

Quin laughed. "Why not? It's cute."

"Not to me."

"Whatever you say, Jae Bird."

He laughed again when she swatted at him and missed as he moved out of her reach.

Quince ambled up to the bar, parking himself on a stool beside the scruffy, unkempt man. The halfling whistled a tune and slapped the wooden counter with his hands in a random, off-beat rhythm that didn't match the song and was irritating beyond words.

"Hey, barkeep! Another round for my friend here!" he announced after a moment, slapping said man on the back in a good-natured fashion.

The barkeep nodded in his direction and the man beside Quin growled out his irritation with the halfling.

The ranger's honey-hued eyes shot over to Quince with an expression on his rough visage that was cold, hard, and thoroughly unpleasant and menacing.

Quin offered a friendly, if not a somewhat dumb-looking, grin.

The man's words slapped it off.

"Shove off, you worthless half-man."

Offended, Quince frowned. "Hey, there's no reason why this has to get ugly. I was just trying to be nice."

"Yeah? I didn't ask for your company." the man snapped. "Go stand on the other side of the room before I send you across it myself."

"Oh, yeah? I'd like to see you try!" Quince shouted, standing up on his stool, holding his fists out and shaking them threateningly at the man. "Come on, bastard! I'll knock your block off!"

The inn-flies eyed the scene with curiosity. It wasn't everyday they saw a halfling trying to fight a man twice his size and with so much confidence and gusto in spite of the certainty of the end results.

The man turned a bit in his seat to look up at Quince, a slow, nasty grin coming across is rugged, angular features.

"You've got to be kidding me."

"Does it look like I'm kidding? Come on, damn you! Let's go!"

The ranger shrugged. "Suit yourself."

A dagger was suddenly in his hand, a move so guileful and swift that no eye could have possibly followed it, except perhaps the ranger's own. He swung the dagger out at Quin, but there was another in the room that was just as quick if not quicker than the ranger.

Jaelyn's slender, gloved finger's wrapped around the ranger's arm in a vise grip, stilling his hand and blade an inch from Quin's face.

The halfling's eyes were wide as they darted between the man and Jaelyn.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." she warned in a deceptively lilting, sweet voice.

The man's golden eyes shifted to her, narrowing hatefully. "Yeah? And what are you going to do abo-"

His words died in his throat as he felt the emphatic point of a blade sticking him in the back of the neck.

"This."

The man jerked his hand in her grasp, trying to break it.

Jaelyn pressed her dagger deeper, nearly drawing blood while at the same time she twisted the man's wrist.

"I'll let you go." she said calmly. "Once you drop that blade from my friend's face."

"Not a chance." he growled.

"I don't see that you have a choice."

"Bet?"

Before she had a chance to react, the man bowed his head forward away from her blade and jerked his arm hard to the side, making her ram into her halfling friend.

Quince flailed backward over the bar with a cry and Jaelyn's stomach was forced into the edge of the bar while her legs got tangled in Quin's stool.

"Ow..." came a painful moan behind the bar. "My head..."

The room was suddenly more crowded as people from outside came in to investigate the clamor from the inn, despite the fact that the noise had only happened seconds ago and lasted seconds less, yet it seemed the beginning din of a tavern brawl had the infallible magic to summon passive spectators from miles around. They were all standing in a circle around the bar, gawking and some were even placing bets on the outcome of the brawl. Jaelyn heard over the general hubbub one professional gambler discussing the odds. She didn't care much for her chances.

The ranger tried to snatch at her from behind, but Jaelyn ducked his grabbing hands and dived away into a somersault, rising up near the circle of onlookers, who grinned at her. One man crudely suggested that she remove her leather armor, which didn't seem wise to her.

She immediately grabbed at a stool when her opponent advanced on her, half of a sneer on his face, and swung it at him.

He jumped back, the seat of the stool swishing within an inch of his stomach. Jaelyn's swing had come too hard and she overbalanced herself, stumbling into the group of people and dropping her 'weapon'. Their hands on her back, she found herself suddenly thrust back into the brawl with no choice in the matter.

"No, no, no..." she said under her breath as she sailed toward the man.

She decided to use this to her advantage and cocked her fist, aiming it for his face when that forward thrust she'd been so kindly given from the crowd came to its end.

Unfortunately, the man had enough sense to duck and her fist instead smashed into the stone pillar in the room, sending white hot pain through her hand and up into her arm.

Jaelyn let out a very unladylike curse, drawing a few gasps from the observers. She held her hand against her stomach and stomped around in circles, swearing, as if it were enough to alleviate the pain.

The man was eyeing her with a raised brow and with a bit of impatience on his face.

"Are you done?"

She shook her hand with a grimace. "A moment, please. Damn, that hurt!"

Jaelyn flexed her fingers, curled them in a fist and then faced her opponent. "All right, now I'm done."

"Good."

The golden-eyed ranger came at her again, but with his dagger this time.

"Jae!" Quin cried from behind the bar, in an upward stance now. "Think fast!"

She had a brief second to look over at Quin as he flicked a chef's knife in her direction. Then she was fortunate enough to have another split second to dodge both Quin's thrown knife and the dagger coming in at her from the man.

Quin's knife sailed close to her face and clanged against the stone pillar in the room. The ranger's dagger swished in the air above her head.

"Damn you, Quin!" she cried as she threw a fist into the man's stomach, causing her hand more pain.

"Sorry! I thought you could catch that." Quin shouted at her sheepishly.

Jaelyn danced away from a thrust. "A thrown knife? Don't be an imbecile!"

"I said I was sorry."

Jaelyn dodged one more attack from the man, but this time his knife caught her hood and took it back. He jerked the knife away and stared at her.

The room fell as silent as a graveyard and Jaelyn suddenly felt exposed.

She drew a hand over her head to find that her hood was no longer covering her. Her despised heritage was on display for all to see.

Everyone in the inn that was conscious stared at her in alarm and surprise that transitioned into anger and hate at a remarkable pace. Quin and her opponent were the only ones that didn't seem as alarmed as everyone else.

"A drow!" someone in the congregation gasped in horror.

A serving girl shrieked and fainted.

That was all that was needed for the patrons and passersby to turn into an angry mob.

"Get her!"

"Kill her!"

"Kill all of them!"

"Yeah, kill her friend, too!"

"And the ranger! Get the ranger!"

"Why?"

"I dunno. I don't like 'im!"

"Good enough for me. Let's get 'em!"

Jaelyn looked through the onlookers-turned-angry-mob, swallowing hard as they closed in on her, each of them brandishing some form of weapon, or some random object that could be used as one. She noted one man armed with a plate and another with a menacing-looking flagon. Then she noted the ranger backing away from the mob toward her.

Quin was beside her, his rapier out.

"This doesn't look good, Jae Bird."

"If I'm to die, Quin, I'd prefer doing so without hearing you call me that. Any ideas how to get out of this?"

"Nope. You?"

"I wouldn't be asking if I did."

They both looked toward the ranger expectantly, who glanced between them with a frown.

"What in the Nine Hells are you looking at me for? I'm not the one that got us into this."

"No, but if you got an idea, you can be the one to get us out of it." Jaelyn replied.

The man scoffed. "I don't give a damn what happens to either of you."

"I fail to see how that matters when we're all in this together, like it or not." she shot back, angrily.

The man was saying something, but she was no longer listening as an object in the seething mob before them caught her attention. A pipe. What's more, a smoking pipe.

Her eyes brightened as the proverbial lightbulb flickered to life over her head. "I got it!"

Jaelyn grabbed at the pouch on Quin's belt, opening it and rummaging around for something.

"Hey! Watch it, that tickles!"

She pulled out a small vial of some kind of milky liquid that was as pure white as her hair.

"Shield your eyes." she told them and then tossed the vial onto the ground, squeezing her eyes shut as it broke and a sudden bright flash blinded the crowd. Smoke began to fill the room from where the vial had landed.

The gathered mob gasped and cried out in shock, some of them pulling their hands over their eyes and others stumbling blindly around, coughing.

"I can't see!" Jaelyn heard someone shout in a panic and then there was a notably ominous thud as that frantic person walked face first into a wall.

Jaelyn grabbed up a stool and tossed it through the window behind the bar before any of the mob could gather themselves and break through the smoke.

"Move your asses." she said over her shoulder to the two males, one she called friend and the other she was violently acquainted with.

Jaelyn climbed through the broken window into the afternoon light, Quin and the ranger following behind her.

She turned to them as they made it out of the inn and opened her mouth to say something when she was interrupted by another dooming cry of "Drow!"

She glanced over her shoulder to see a group of armed men charging at them.

"Arrrrrrgggg!" Jaelyn cried in passionate frustration.

"This would be a good time to run!" Quin added helpfully.

Without further ado, the trio darted through the town toward its gates, pursued stubbornly by a small troop of local guards.

**xxxxxxxxxx**

They were three miles out of Port Llast when Jaelyn glanced over her shoulder to see that their pursuers had finally given up and gone home.

"They're gone." she announced, coming to a halt.

She leaned over on her knees to catch her breath, her hair a white waterfall over one shoulder.

Quin and the ranger were also taking a breather. The halfling fell back without grace onto the leaf-carpeted ground, panting. The man was leaning back against a tree with his arms crossed at his chest, considering the drow with casual interest. He didn't even look winded.

"Are you always this popular wherever you go?" he inquired, smartly.

Jaelyn lifted her head and glared at him.

"Shut...up." she said through gulps of air, making the man smirk.

Quin sat up and looked up at him with a humorous grin. "She's only popular _whenever_ she goes."

Jaelyn kicked him in the thigh.

"Ow!"

When Jaelyn's breath finally caught up with her, she straightened and regarded the man with mild interest.

"You didn't seem surprised when you found out what I was."

He shrugged. "That's 'cause I don't really care."

Jaelyn blinked. "I don't know whether to be offended or touched."

"I don't really care."

The man pushed himself away from the tree and began heading out into the woods, as if nothing had even happened. Jaelyn watched him go, having no desire whatsoever to stop him.

Quin, however, did.

"Hey, wait a minute!"

The man sighed and turned to the halfling, eyeing him with an impatient look. "What do you want?"

"Well, you see-"

"Damn you, Quin." Jaelyn cut him off, sticking her hands on her hips. "I thought we talked about this?"

"Did we? I don't think so, at least I don't remember in any case." lied Quin with that inane grin, and then he turned back to the man. "Well, you see, my friend and I are looking for another adventurer to join us. Interested?"

"No." the man replied and stalked away.

"There's gold involved." Quin called after him.

'Gold' seemed to be this man's magic word, for it caused him to pause in his stride and look back over his shoulder with a slight narrowing of his eyes.

"Gold?"

"Lots of it."

The ranger faced him fully, arms crossed. "How much is a lot?"

"More than you can shake a stick at."

"I don't shake sticks at gold." the man replied. "I spend it, and I have a lot of expenses."

"Trust me, where we're going, there will be more gold than you can count and wallow in. You'll be richer than a Pasha."

A slow, greedy grin came across the man's face. "All right, you've talked me into it. But I warn you, half-man, you'll be dead sorry if you don't follow through on the gold."

"Hey, I may not be known for much, but I am known to keep my word."

"I don't know," Jaelyn spoke up, her mouth turning upward in something that resembled a smile. The drow wasn't used to smiling and when she did attempt it, it felt strange and uncomfortable, as if her mouth were being wrenched apart with hooks. "I'll bet they'll remember you in Amn."

Quin smiled widely. "Without a doubt. I do hope ol' Malar Claw doesn't send any of his men after us."

Jaelyn rose one elegant, thin, snow-white brow. "Malar Claw?"

"Yeah, he was my commander, the one I stole the map from. A tough man for his age. Had a hand that was disfigured and spotted, looked oddly like Malar's claw. Some actually think he's the god's chosen one; he's bloodthirsty enough to be, but I always assumed Malar was a nature god, not a thievery god. I don't think Mask would approve of that."

"Malar _is_ a nature god." said Jaelyn. " He's known by many names, such as the Beastlord, the Savage Hunter, and the Black-blooded Pard."

"You a Malarite?" asked the ranger, eyeing her again with that curious look.

She sent a disgusted look back his way. "Absolutely not. Malar dishonors the sanctity of hunting and tracking, as do his followers. They hunt and kill out of blood-lust, not out of necessity, and they defile their prey. Merely saying that god's name makes me want to vomit."

"A simple no would've sufficed." he replied in a tone dripping with sarcasm.

She rolled her eyes. "And before you even say it, I don't worship Lolth, either."

The man rose a brow. "When did I show an interest in your choice of religion? Oh, that's right, I didn't."

Jaelyn frowned and crossed her arms over her chest. "There's no need in being a jerk."

Quin grinned as he looked between the two.

"I haven't seen personalities clash like this in a long time." he remarked in an oddly cheerful tone. "This is going to be a great adventure. I can just feel it, like magic in the air! We need to find a bard."

"No." said Jaelyn, firmly. "I have a feeling we've picked up enough trouble with this one." She jerked her thumb in the ranger's direction. "A bard will only be more trouble."

"But we need someone to write about our adventures!"

"Do it yourself. You can write, can't you?"

"Why, yes, but I don't have a way with words. Not like you, in any case."

Jaelyn shrugged. "I don't know how to write, though."

"Why am I not surprised?" commented the ranger. "That requires intelligence, something you seem to be lack-"

"Shut your damn mouth!" Jaelyn snapped at him. "Some of us weren't given the luxury of education. I've only been taught the things I need to know to survive and I learned those by experience alone."

"So have I, but I know how to write."

"Anyway!" Quin piped, trying to change the subject. "We haven't even been introduced yet, and since we're all going to be traveling together for a while, I think it would be proper, or at the very least necessary. We need to know what to call each other, you know. My name's Quince Bramblebrow, but you can call me Quin. And yours?"

Since the halfling was already aware of Jaelyn's name, his question had been directed at the male ranger.

"Bishop." he replied in a tone that reminded the drow of dark, creepy alleyways full of ominous, stalking shadows and daggers glinting in the moonlight before they're driven home in some poor soul's back. It made the tiny hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.

"No family name?" the halfling inquired.

The ranger frowned and shrugged on the subject.

"Oh. Well, nice to meet you, then!"

"What a stupid name!" Jaelyn added, ignoring that creepy feeling. "Dear gods, whoever named you obviously didn't like you."

The ranger-now known as Bishop-shot her a furious look.

"At least I'm not a drow."

The comment wiped the grin off Jaelyn's face, turning it into something that would've made demons flee back into the Abyss in terror with their spiny, enflamed tails between their legs, which would undoubtedly hurt quite a bit.

She named this particular unpleasant thing her Inner Drow. It were these vicious moments when she felt most in touch with her darker roots.

"Half-drow." she corrected with a sneer. "And better to be a drow than to be you with that stupid name!"

"And that's Jaelyn Sharpshadow." Quin chimed in, helpfully. "She's really nice once you get to know her."

"I bet."

"Well," Quin continued, slapping his hands together in an eager manner. "Now that we've got this business of introductions out of the way, what say we look at this map!"

Jaelyn gathered close behind Quin, staring at him in astonishment. "You haven't even looked at that map yet?"

"I have." replied the halfling. "But you two haven't."

"Well, let's have a look, then."

Quin pulled a rolled up parchment from his pack and spread it out on a nearby boulder. The map showed a portion of the Sword Coast on the whole right edge of the parchment, a whole lot of water in between and then a few islands dotting the blue expanse here and there. One particular island had been marked with a dark red 'X'.

"X marks the spot, they say. I suppose Malar Claw's treasure is there." said Quin. "You know, I even heard a rumor that there's another treasure map buried with this treasure. Wouldn't that be something?"

"So, where are we going, then, Quin?" asked Jaelyn.

"To an island six hundred miles southwest of Uttersea. It doesn't even have a name. How exciting!" The halfling grinned. "Let's see, if I calculate this right, the island should be...twelve hundred miles of sea travel if, say, we sailed from Neverwinter. Well, anywhere along the coast, really."

"Great." groused Bishop in annoyance. "A thousand miles across the Trackless Sea in some rickety boat, no doubt. Can't wait."

"But well worth the trip, I'm sure! It must be worth it. Malar Claw sold a great deal of his belongings to purchase this map, even a few high-prized cortesans as well. It came from some exotic looking man. He looked well-traveled and had an accent I've never heard before."

"You've failed to consider one problem, Quin. We don't have a boat." Jaelyn pointed out.

"I know a guy who owns one." the halfling replied, smiling. "And luckily for us, he just happens to be in the neighborhood. His vessel has been docked in Neverwinter for a tenday now."

Quin's smile widened and his blue eyes took on a strange glitter that made Jaelyn want to step back away from him. Sometimes she wondered very seriously if this halfling was mad.

"This must be what people refer to as 'fate'." he continued. "You see, we are supposed to do this, we're supposed to find this treasure! All of us!"

"Fate doesn't always end well." commented Bishop.

"Oddly, I was going to say that." Jaelyn added.

"Yeah, but I was quicker."

"If I recall, you weren't at the inn." Jaelyn shot back.

"Care for a rematch?"

"You're not worthy enough to test my prowess."

"Not worthy? Of some little whip-thin dark elf that thinks she's a hotshot? I think I have a pretty good chance."

Jaelyn sneered at him and turned away.

"That's what I thought." the ranger remarked smartly at her back.

A split second later, he found himself painfully wedged up against the trunk of a tree, one of Jaelyn's hands holding him in place by his throat while her other held the keen edge of a dagger beneath his chin. He was more than a little surprised...and a bit aroused. He'd only seen dark elves once and only in a book, and they never had appealed to him. However, it seemed Lolth-or whatever god or goddess had accidentally knocked over a bottle of ink and maliciousness into the clay that would shape the drow-had granted this one nice, soft features, though they were currently tight and contorted. Her skin was dark, but not as dark as most drow skin was. It was a gray color, a little darker than the shade of slate. Her snow-white hair was long, spilling wildly over her shoulders and reaching nearly to the small of her back and she had thick bangs that obscured the left side of her face. Her eyes are what really caught his attention. Unlike most drow, whose eyes were usually pale yellow, pink, purple or red, hers were green, a pale green that he had trouble describing, for there was nothing to compare them to. He struggled to sort through the confusion of descriptive words in the back of his skull and then decided to just pick the closest two he could find: milky emerald. They were rather disappointing candidates for the job.

She also had the features typical of any elven race-almond-shaped eyes, pointed ears, elegant and thin eyebrows, and the slim, straight frame but hers were put together in a wild, exotic order, which made him wonder if she had some wood elf in her bloodline somewhere. She was beautiful, no doubt, but her figure was disappointing, for Bishop was one who happened to enjoy a full, shapely figure on a woman. Not to say that he liked _round_ women, but just those with some meat on their bones and where the plump settled into the right places, particularly the breasts, behind and hips. Further disappointing was the fact that she almost had no chest to speak of and he had a brief, horrific moment to wonder if this drow was truly female or not, and then he promptly kicked the idea out of his head. She had to be. That squeaky, high-pitched voice could only belong to a woman.

She was slightly taller than your average drow, though she still only reached to about his chest and he stood at a proud, manly six feet. Her shortness was why a grin suddenly came over his face, even though she held to his Adam's apple a knife so sharp it could've split a strand of hair down the middle.

Temptation perched on his shoulder and whispered encouragingly in his ear.

_You could easily give her a knee, right under the chin, _said Temptation._ Go on. Do it. It'll feel good._

_Ah, ah,_ reprimanded Common Sense, wagging a finger at him. _Do that and no doubt that half-man will stick a knife in you._

_Common Sense is right, you know. I'd listen if I were you_, came Logic's opinion. _Besides, if you stay on her good side, she'll most likely reward you. Perhaps in more ways than one?_

The ranger's eyes brightened at the idea.

Temptation was metaphorically flicked away into a small, dark and confined area of his consciousness labeled _Useless Emotional Crap_, where it sat sulkily between Love and Compassion.

"Jae!" cried the halfling in shock. "Don't kill our new comrade!"

"Why not?" the drow growled, never taking her eyes away from the ranger's. "I think I'd rather enjoy it."

"No, you wouldn't. You're not cold-blooded, Jae. Now let Bishop go. No doubt his bulk is hurting that poor tree." Quin said, eyeing the large pine the ranger was pinned to.

Jaelyn conceded to reason and released her stranglehold on the man's neck, stepping back and looking at the halfling a few feet away.

"Don't be ridiculous, Quin. Trees don't feel anything." she insisted.

The halfling's blue eyes went wide, nearly taking up the whole area of his face. "How can you say that? You're a ranger! Trees should be living beings in your eyes and I should think hurting them would be blasphemous."

Jaelyn lifted a brow. "That's a druid you're speaking of, Quin."

"See, that's where you start losing me. What exactly is the difference between a druid and a ranger?"

"Druids are linked spiritually with nature. Some rangers have a bond with nature, like me, but a good deal of us are simply attracted to the untamed and the unknown. Some want to protect it, some want to control and conquer it, and others wish to understand and immulate it."

"Why'd you choose to be a ranger?"

Jaelyn looked thoughtful for a long moment, rubbing at her chin with gloved fingers and then she shrugged. "It was never a choice. It's just who I am."

Bishop glanced at her in surprise. If anyone had been adept at seeing past his masterfully fashioned mask of inexpressiveness, they might have seen understanding.

Quin, on the other hand, was lost to that idea.

"How can it not be a choice?" he demanded with a confused twist in his brow. "It's like a job, right?"

"For me it's more than a job or a class, or however else you want to put it." she said and then sighed. "You're going to make me have to explain it to you, aren't you?"

Quin grinned that stupid grin and nodded.

"Fine," she said. "But first, don't you think we should be heading for Neverwinter now? I'm not exactly thrilled with seeing the city for obvious reasons, but I still think it would be a good idea to get there as soon as possible. I'm sure your friend isn't going to be in town forever."

"Right. Well, you can tell us about it on the way."

"I'll tell it when I'm good and ready." she snapped defensively, making Quin put his hands up in his own defense.

"What did I say?"

When she didn't reply, he looked to Bishop, as if he had the answer. The ranger merely rolled his eyes.

The two rangers began walking in a southerly direction through the thick brush and bramble, their steps equally silent as if they were treading on air. Quin stood there for a moment in confusion.

"You have to bend your legs and move them if you want to get anywhere, Quin." Jaelyn called back to him over her shoulder.

Actually, it seemed all it took was her voice to propel him forward.

"Hey!" he cried, running after them, which wasn't easy because all the grass, weeds, and groundcover nearly came up over his chest, where as with the other two it only came up to their knees. "Wait for me!"

It wasn't easy living in a world built for tall folk.

**xxxxxxxxxx**

Bishop's pride as a ranger and a man had taken a serious beating towards the end of the day, and Pride was currently cursing bitterly and licking its wounds.

He scowled at the drow, who stood over the corpse of a decent-sized deer, smiling back at him in full smug mode, not even having the decency to conceal it.

This was why women should be forced to stick to cooking, cleaning, raising children, and mending clothes-women things-for there was a good chance that if they tried men things, they actually might be better at it than men were, which was currently the case and why his Ego was curled up in the fetal position beside Pride, sucking its thumb.

He had his hand behind his back, hiding the one small rabbit he had accidentally flushed out of its burrow while trying to find something for them all to eat. He had then chased it down two miles until it finally just keeled over and died, probably of a heart attack. When he inspected his 'kill', he did note that it was rather old. It wasn't one of his more poignant hunts, to be sure, but it would do for dinner and no one had to know how he'd 'hunted' it.

He was on his way back to their camp when he came upon the drow and the halfling, standing over the dead deer.

Quin seemed pleased to see him, his eyes bright and cheery when he noticed he was standing there.

"Oh, there you are!" he said in an excited voice. "You should've seen it! The most exciting thing I've ever seen in my life!"

Bishop had frowned at him in irritation. "What're you on about, half-man?"

"Well, I was coming to find one of you, because you both were taking a long time and I was wondering if something had happened." the halfling began. "So, I came out here. I heard a 'shhhhh' sound from one of the trees and looked up to see Jaelyn here sitting up among the branches. Quite puzzled was I, but I understood once she pointed down the slope there and I saw the deer. No sooner had I looked at it, when Jaelyn shot her bow. That arrow traveled all the way down there and struck the deer right there!" He jabbed a finger between his eyes. "I still don't know how she did it! Quite amazing!"

Bishop hated to admit it, but it really was impressive as he considered the distance between where the halfling had pointed to indicate where the deer was and then which tree she had been perched in. It was a good two hundred yards apart. The drow must have keen eyes and an excellent aim to have shot that far.

_It's a big target_, he reminded himself. _Let's see her hit a rabbit at that distance._

_Technically, you didn't kill the rabbit,_ pointed out an annoying little voice in his head. _It died of natural causes. Though admittedly, if you hadn't chased it as you did, it might not have had that heart attack._

"Oh, shut up." he grumbled, shaking his head.

"Huh?" Quin glanced at him in confusion. "What'd you say?"

"I didn't say anything." Bishop lied. "Well? What're you waiting for? Pick up that carcass and get moving. I'm starved."

They were only capable of dining on a small portion of the deer, leaving a good size of it left over, which Jaelyn stared at regretfully.

"What're we going to do with the rest of it?" she wondered aloud. "It's wrong not to make use of all of the animal. The gods frown upon wastrels, you know. Especially the nature gods."

Quin was laying flat on his back, sleepily, next to the campfire and watching the stars wheel over head. The ranger was reclining on a convenient nearby boulder, hands clasped together behind his head.

"Leave it be." he said. "There's plenty of things in these woods that'll make use of it. Circle of life and all that." He waved a dismissive hand in the air.

Jaelyn looked over at him through the top flickering flames of the campfire, which startled him a little when he met her gaze. Her eyes seemed to absorb the brightness of the fire and gave them a strange shine. She looked quite evil, actually. The fire created eerie shadows across her face, giving him the impression that she was sneering at him, which she in fact was not.

Things were much different on the other side of the campfire, where Jaelyn was admiring the glow of the fire on his face, the way it smoothed out his rough features and made him look ten years younger. She almost dared to say that it gave him a boyish look, though she couldn't imagine him as a boy. She actually considered asking him if he ever was one.

Jaelyn had never had any interest in the opposite sex, more over for the fact that she didn't understand attraction or love and all the rest of it. Long ago, she had conceded to the fact that she would never know love in that way because no one in all the world cared for her kind; she would never be accepted.

That was why she was thoroughly horrified when a roguish thought sneaked through the gates of her consciousness and began wreaking havoc.

_He's really good-looking._

The thought echoed loudly in the quiet, peaceful confines of her mind, where such out-of-place and world-altering thoughts had never set foot before.

She became aware that the thought was alone there; nothing rose up in outrage to send it out the door, because nothing within her knew what to do. The part of her that had been taught by her adoptive father knew that her throughts were natural, but the inexperienced part of her was cowering in a corner, confused and uncertain.

Jaelyn's eyes widened a bit. She cleared her throat nervously when his bright golden eyes tried to search her, curious as to why she was looking at him like that. She found herself quite interested in the burning embers at the bottom of the fire and she kept her sight glued to it, too afraid that he might pick up on that thought in her mind. The gods knew it was almost loud enough to be heard. It stubbornly refused to give up and go away.

Thankfully, Quince sat up and looked at her with a small smile.

"You owe us a story."

Relief draped itself over her and whispered soft comforts in her ear.

She loved that damn halfling.

"Story?"

"Yes. Remember? Choices, rangers and all that?"

"Oh, right." she said with a nod. "You wanted to know why I became a ranger."

He nodded eagerly. "Do tell."

Jaelyn was unsure if she actually could tell the tale. She'd never told it to anyone before, mostly because there had never been anyone to tell it to, unless she was fond of telling her story to the trees, rocks, or animals. Sure, they were all good listeners, but they were terribly impassive. It would never be the same as telling it to another humanoid, she knew that. Even if that humanoid didn't quite understand what she'd gone through, there would be a small part of them that sympathized. Maybe.

"Well, it all started when I was born." she paused, turning her gaze upward to the stars, thoughtfully. "You know, 'cause that's what happens when you're born, everything starts. Anyway, my adoptive father said I had been born to a wood elf in some humble, unimportant village that's dead and gone now-"

"What about your real parents?"

Jaelyn sighed. "I'm getting to that. Stop interrupting."

"Sorry. Go on."

"I was too young to remember my parents. My adoptive father said my real father was never in the picture and my mother...well, she didn't want me after I was born. She tried to drown me in the river outside the village. Lucky for me it didn't work. I floated down stream, screaming at the top of my lungs when someone finally came upon me. It just happened to be a dragon."

"A dragon?" blurted Quin, his eyes wide. "Surely it meant to eat you!"

Jaelyn shrugged. "He didn't. In fact, he adopted and raised me."

This seemed to pique her fellow ranger's interest, for he suddenly sat up from his slumped position and stared at her with a risen brow. "You were raised by a dragon?"

She nodded. "Several, actually. A small clan of song dragons. The Vakavsavala clan, or in the Common tongue, the Dirgevoice."

Both males were staring at her, one in complete awe and one with his brow still arched, yet both were genuinely surprised by her ability to speak the Draconian name as she had; though, really, they shouldn't have since she was raised by dragons.

"The strange part about it is that at the same time I was being born, a dragon of the clan was hatching from its egg. Weilsung, the leader of the clan, was the one who found me and saw me as some kind of sign. He took me in and raised me. Lucky for me, Weilsung was very wise and intelligent. He knew many languages, even Drow and Common, but my native tongue was Draconian. It had to be. If I didn't know Draconian, then I would never be able to speak with the rest of the clan, my family."

She paused to moisten her voice and then continued.

"Remember the dragon that was being hatched the same time I was being born? It was fate's doing, or so Weilsung believed. As Eklishazlavak-or Elegy to non-Draconian speakers-and I grew into maturity together, we had always had a strange bond that awed the clan. We could speak to each other without exchanging words, we felt what the other felt and once when I fell out of the cave and broke my arm, Elegy suffered the same injury as well. The clan thought it was a strange coincidence, but Weilsung didn't. He said we were bonded spiritually. Whatever happened to one happened to the other. Weilsung claimed that a bond like that can only be formed if two dragons of the same clan were hatched at the same moment."

"But you're not a dragon." pointed out Quin.

Jaelyn shrugged. "Apparently, it's in my blood somewhere. Weilsung said he could hear it in me when he found me in the river. My terrible crying held in it the song of the Vakavsavala clan."

"So, you're drow, wood elf, _and_ dragonkin?" asked Bishop, incredulously.

Jaelyn shrugged. "I can't say for sure, since I never knew either of my birth parents. Anyway, so I grew up with the clan in their secret mountain home. I'd tell you where if it wasn't forbidden to outsiders. Elegy and I were constantly together, roaming the mountains and forests of our home. I loved the exploring more than anything. There was something about the land that called to me and the more time I spent in it, the stronger that call became. Over the years, I began showing signs of some kind of connection to nature. It's...hard to explain it, but being in the wilds felt right. It was a feeling that went right down to my bones. I knew I belonged there. Of course, to survive in that home, Weilsung taught me how to hunt the humanoid way. Dragon hunting is very different from our way of hunting. There was no way I could've survived on it, mostly because I can't fly and would probably get sick from eating too much raw meat. I watched Weilsung hunt once. It wasn't a pretty sight.

"In any case, Weilsung, as I said before, was very knowledgeable about the two-legged races, so he taught me the ways of the ranger. With my new skills, I began exploring farther and farther from home until one day I looked back and wondered if it was time I went out on my own. A part of me had never really felt I belonged with the dragon clan, even if they were the only family I had. I told Weilsung my plans to leave when I returned. I think mostly I wanted to understand the world beyond that cavern, to see the cities I'd heard so much about in Weilsung's tales. That very night, I packed my things to go."

"Weren't you at all sad to be leaving?" Quin inquired.

Jaelyn smiled vaguely. "Of course, but it was something I needed to do. For years, I looked down from those mountains and saw those sprawling cities and wondered. Were any of my kind out there? What were these cities? What were the people like? Weilsung had told many stories about great battles fought by the humans and elves and dwarves over kingdoms and cities. He even told me of the drow of the Underdark, but those tales had always been dark and full of blood.

"When I set out on my new adventure, Elegy was at my side. And though I protested, he refused to stay with the clan. I suppose it was meant to be so; we are truly bonded. Anyway, my adventures did not turn out so well. City after city, I was shunned, run off at knife-point, cursed, and spat at. Once, I asked why they were trying to attack me and do you know what their answer was?"

"You're drow?" Bishop supplied.

Jaelyn smiled, a bitter twist to her mouth and nodded. "Exactly what they said, word for word. It made absolutely no sense to me how the entire world could despise one race. It seemed pointless, really. As I understand it, there aren't many drow, anyway and they all live underground, so why should they hate a race that's hardly ever seen or heard from? Surely they can't cause the surface that much trouble."

"Usually when they are seen or heard from, it's only for a quick moment before they return to their dark hole, leaving a good many corpses in their wake." said the ranger. "The drow hate us just as much as we hate them."

"The drow were forced into exile, into a world of darkness, where death and doom lurks around every corner." Jaelyn said, grimly. "I'd say the drow have plenty to be angry about."

The ranger shrugged. "It's ancient history."

"Is it?" Jaelyn asked. "If it truly was just that, why would my mother, a wood elf, have tried to drown me as an infant? Why would people still shun my kind?"

"Maybe mother didn't want a child to begin with." said Bishop, callously. "And do I really have to point out again the fact that your kind comes storming up from the ground to slaughter us surface folk without hesitation?"

"It doesn't matter!" Jaelyn shouted in frustration. "I'm not them! I'm not even from the Underdark, yet every where I go, people think I'm there to pillage, rape and slaughter."

"If it makes you feel any better," Quin spoke up. "I don't really care about what race you are. I think you're a nice person."

Jaelyn smiled down at the halfling. "Thanks, Quin."

"It doesn't really matter to me, either." Bishop added. "But that's only because I hate everyone equally."

Frowning, Jaelyn grabbed a burning twig from the fire and threw it at him. It landed harmlessly near his leg, its faint glow extinguishing almost immediately.

The ranger snorted and then grinned. "Typical drow. Attack someone for no reason at all."

"Watch it!" she cried. "Or next time it'll be a log and it'll be aimed for your head, which shouldn't be hard to hit given its enormous size."

"That's not the only thing enormous on me, darling." he suggested with a smirk.

Jaelyn rolled her eyes. "Ugh. Swine."


	2. Chapter 2: Off to Neverwinter

**xxxxxx**

* * *

**Chapter Two: **

**Off To Neverwinter**

**xxxxxx**

**When** Jaelyn awoke the next morning, the sun was barely an orange glow on the horizon and there were still a few stars out in the fading violet firmament to the west.

She stretched and looked around the camp, noticing Quin still wrapped up in his bedroll, snoring like a bear for one so small, and then she glanced over to the bare spot by the boulder where a certain ranger was supposed to be occupying the space.

Jaelyn stood up, bent backward with her hands pressing in the small of her back to rid herself of the kinks one receives from sleeping on hard ground all night. True, she had spent a good deal of her life sleeping on hard cavern floors and mentally, she had gotten used to it. Physically was a different matter. Humanoid bodies were just not meant to sleep on hard surfaces.

She peered out into the dully lit forest, searching among the trees and brush for any man-shaped shadows or, really, any shadow out of place. She saw nothing out of the ordinary.

Jaelyn set out for a short walk to scope the path they would take to Neverwinter. They still had a ways to go yet and the thought of walking for another day made her groan inwardly. She was a ranger, sure, but that didn't mean she had to like walking long distances. She was sensible; she would consider other possible, more convenient ways to travel.

She came to a tiny clearing in the woods and considered the ring of sky over it, wondering if a dragon might fit through it.

Only one way to find out.

Jaelyn moved into the center of the clearing and stood there, closing her eyes.

Against the backdrop of woods, a shadow moved and paused, turning eyes in her direction curiously.

Jaelyn focused her will and sent her mind out to make contact with her bond-mate. She could feel it reaching across the distance and it was a strange sensation, as if her mind was being stretched like a rubber band. She found what she sought almost immediately.

_What do you want?_ came a familiar irritated voice in her mind.

_Is that any way to speak to your sister?_ she replied psychically.

_Oh...I thought you were someone else._

_Someone else? Who else do you share a bond with?_

_Er...no one. No one you know of, that is._

Jaelyn could feel the humor in her bondmate.

_Are you doing anything at the moment?_ she asked.

_If you must know, I was having my breakfast. Well, at least trying to, but this interruption has made me lose focus and my breakfast is now safely back at its home village._

_Village?_ Jaelyn was shocked. _You're not eating people again, are you?_

_Don't be absurd. I learned my lesson the last time. People tend to squirm when they go down; it's not pleasant to feel your meal moving around while you're trying to eat it. No, I was after a particularly plump cow._

_Ah, I see. Well, come find me._

_Why?_

_Er...I want you to meet some people._

Jaelyn heard and felt a sigh enter her mind.

_Meet people? Do you mean going to a village and scaring all the people off while trying to avoid becoming a pin cushion for crossbow bolts being hurled at me by the local militia just to free you from jail? That kind of meeting people?_

_No, I mean it this time. I want you to meet these two fellows I ran into._

_You actually met people that didn't want to kill you or lock you up on sight? That's a first._

She didn't appreciate the amusement in the voice inside her head.

_Just get here, damn it._

_On my way. That is, after I pick up a quick meal. Can't fly until I've eaten, you know._

With a sigh, Jaelyn broke the link between her and her bond-mate and then turned to make her way back to camp.

She froze in mid-step when she saw the scruffy man standing there on the edge of the clearing, considering her with a strange look.

For some reason, a little bit of embarrassment crept into Jaelyn and she cleared her throat nervously.

"How long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough." replied Bishop. "What exactly were you doing just then?"

"Uh...when?" Jaelyn asked, feigning puzzlement.

The ranger gave her an impatient expression. "You know what I'm talking about. A moment ago. You were just standing there, still as a corpse, with your eyes shut."

Jaelyn shuffled her feet. "Er...well, I...um...I was sort of talking to someone."

"Yourself? There's no one else out here."

"Not that kind of talking." she said. "It's a sort of talking with the mind."

He rose a brow. "You were talking to your mind? You're a little off, aren't you?"

Jaelyn sighed heavily, dropping her arms to her sides. "Do you have an animal companion, like most rangers?"

He nodded and made a gesture to the woods. "He's somewhere around here."

"You can communicate?"

Again, he nodded.

"Then you should know what I'm talking about. I was speaking to the mind of my bond-mate. It's kind of like how a ranger communicates with their animal companion, only it's much stronger."

"Is that all? Then why didn't you just say that instead of twisting your words and making it all confusing?"

Jaelyn shrugged. "I don't know. You being there startled me. No one's ever seen me in my communing state before. I wasn't drooling or anything, was I?"

He gave her a strange look again. "Not that I could tell. Do you normally?"

"I had a seizure in one once...er, so yeah, but only that once."

"So, you were talking mentally with some dragon?"

She nodded. "Yeah, Elegy. Actually, he should be here soon."

The ranger's gold eyes widened and his hand cautiously slipped down to the hilt of the sword strapped at his left hip. "Here? What?"

Jaelyn waved her hands around. "Calm down. Elegy is harmless. That is, he's harmless when no weapons are being drawn on him."

"Why in the Nine Hells did you call that thing here in the first place?" demanded Bishop, accusingly.

"Well, I thought I'd get us to Neverwinter faster."

"On a dragon?"

"Yes, you know, 'cause dragons happen to travel a hundred times faster than people." Jaelyn replied in irritation. "What's your problem?"

"I particularly don't want to be eaten by a dragon, that's my problem."

"Elegy doesn't eat people." Jaelyn snapped in defense. "They're too squirmy for his tastes."

"How reassuring."

"Look," Jaelyn said, trying to keep her voice calm. "On Elegy, we'd make it to Neverwinter in an hour or two. On foot, we might make it there after midnight and that's if we choose to keep traveling after dark. And you know as much as I do how treacherous the land can be at night. So, which would you prefer?"

"I'd prefer not to be eaten and to have both feet on the ground." Bishop replied smartly. "If we were meant to fly, we would have been born with wings."

Jaelyn looked at him hard with her head to one side. She saw something flash in the depths of those gold eyes at the mention of flying. It had looked like fear, but she wasn't exactly sure.

"Are you afraid of flying or something?"

"What? Don't be insane! Flying just isn't a normal way of getting around."

Jaelyn's pale green eyes lit up with amusement. "Ah! So, you are afraid of flying!"

"No, I'm not." he snapped.

He was actually telling her the truth. He wasn't even the slightest bit afraid of flying. He was afraid of heights. Flying was the easy part, he reasoned, it was being a thousand feet above ground that was the hard part.

"Whatever." Jaelyn said. "We'll just ask Quin for his opinion."

Bishop smirked. "Fine by me."

He knew he had this one in the bag. Halflings were notorious for their fear of heights as well.

Unfortunately...

"Why, what a clever idea!" Quin cried, excitedly to the scruffy ranger's shock. "We'll save loads of time!"

Jaelyn beamed smugly at Bishop, who scowled. Just his rotten luck, he had to get the only halfling in all of Faerun not afraid of heights.

"You understand what's going to happen, don't you?" he said to the halfling. "We're going to be thousands of feet up in the air with nothing securing us to the beast."

"Yes," Quin said, nodding. "Isn't it going to be exciting? I've always wanted to ride a dragon!"

"You're both mad."

Jaelyn smiled and slapped the man on the back in a good-natured fashion. "Cheer up, Bishop. The trip'll be over before you know it. And besides, with me on board, your safety will be guaranteed. Elegy will never let anything bad happen to me."

"Would it surprise you if I said I was not reassured?"

Jaelyn stared at him and smirked. "I didn't peg you as the cautious type. I thought you were one of those men that dived head first into danger."

"Look," Bishop replied without hesitation, now being driven by his own pride and dignity as one of the male species. Male Pride had already taken one beating by this woman. Another would not do. Sheer, reckless determination had replaced common sense and now the only thing that mattered was making sure she didn't get him again.

"All I'm saying is," he continued. "I don't want to go plunging to my death from five thousand feet above."

"You won't," Jaelyn assured him. "You have my word."

But her words were not enough to quell the little butterflies of terror currently flitting about in a mad panic inside his gut.

Those panicky butterflies increased in number when the dragon finally presented itself in the clearing a few yards from their camp.

It came on the heavy beat of leathery wings, which disturbed the trees around the clearing, their limbs flailing about in objection, and then it landed with an earth-shaking thud, which caused a sandstorm-sized cloud of dust to billow up from the ground, and even uprooted a few adolescent trees.

The violet-scaled dragon was enormous to the ranger, though in actuality, Elegy was small for a song dragon, which were one of the smallest dragon breeds in existence. However, this was the first dragon Bishop had ever seen outside of a book.

"Holy shit!" he swore, drawing his sword reflexively and backing away.

Quin was standing in front of him and glanced back with an amused look. Jaelyn was standing beside the dragon, proudly until she looked up and saw the look of outrage on Elegy's reptilian visage.

He flapped his large leathery, dark purple wings, blowing up dust that flew directly around Quin and right into the ranger's face, despite the physical impossibility.

"Put your puny weapon away, lower species!" Elegy bellowed in an otherworldly voice. "It shall do you no good. No pathetic human-constructed weapon could harm me."

Rubbing dirt out of his eyes, Bishop glared over at Jaelyn.

"It can _talk_?"

Jaelyn shrugged as if the whole thing had been obvious. "Of course."

"It?" Elegy demanded. "_It_? How dare you! I would eat you if your kind was not prone to squirming in my jaws like the little pathetic worms you are! Hardly capable of making a mouthful."

"Good, I wasn't exactly looking forward to becoming dragon fodder." replied Bishop severely.

Elegy lowered his large, violet-scaled head to peer at the ranger through narrowed, reptilian, yellow eyes.

"Something tells me you would cause indigestion." commented the dragon.

Jaelyn elbowed the dragon in one of his front legs. "Knock it off with all that. You sound like an ancient red, which you're not, by the way."

The dragon seemed to shrug. "What? Oh, come on!" he replied in a completely different voice that reminded Bishop of street vendors everywhere. The ranger was almost expecting him at any moment to start trying to sell his wares to them in a very loud voice. "I have to keep up appearances, you know. Besides, I saw fear in that one the moment I landed. I had to play off of it; it's a dragon's right."

"Well, refrain, please." Jaelyn replied. "Because they are my friends. Well, Quin is at any rate. The other one is simply along for the gold, I expect."

"And don't you forget it." Bishop snapped at her and then backed up another few feet when the dragon glared at him as if he'd stolen something off his vendor's cart.

"Very well." Elegy said. "I'll try my darnedest. Now, I believe some introductions are in order here."

The halfling, who had been stricken with wonderment, finally came forward, holding out a hand to the dragon. "Greetings there, dragon! I am Quince Bramblebrow, but you can call me Quin. Well met, well met!"

Elegy lowered his head again, so close to the halfling that the ranger couldn't help but think, _any minute now, we're going to hear a snap and that idiot half-man will be no more._ Truly, Bishop didn't see the point. The halfling would probably get stuck in the dragon's teeth first and even if he did make it onto the tongue, it would probably be no different than if a human ate a grain of salt.

"You have a strange smell." said Elegy. "Like the bottom of a burrow."

Quin scratched at the back of his head in confusion and looked at Jaelyn for help. "Do I need to take a bath?"

She shrugged and looked up at the dragon, which caused her neck to pop in protest. "This, as you now know, is Quin. The other one is Bishop."

Elegy stretched his neck out toward the ranger again and stared at him through narrowed eyes, scrutinizing him icily. Bishop was unimpressed.

"Don't even bother." he told the scaly beast. "I invented that look. And if you think I'm scared of you, you got another thing coming."

The dragon sneezed on him.

Bishop found himself covered from head to toe in warm, oozing dragon snot. Something inside him screamed in revulsion and wanted nothing more than to shrivel up and die. Outwardly, he stood there like stone for a few moments, and then slung dragon mucus out of his eyes.

Jaelyn stared at him through wide eyes, a gloved hand over her mouth to smother the laugh that was threatening to come out. Quin was grinning, inanely.

"Pardon me." said Elegy with amusement. "I am allergic to bullshit."

Rage burned deeply in the ranger's gold eyes, turning them into flames and a split second later, he was charging at the dragon with his sword raised.

"Don't!" Jaelyn cried.

Her warning fell on deaf ears and never had a chance at the ranger's anger-numbed mind.

She had a moment to dive on Quin, though and slap her hands to his ears.

"What're you doing?" the halfling cried in surprise.

"Just wait." she said to him. "And try not to listen."

Elegy moved back from the advancing human, smirking in a very reptilian fashion at the ranger's attempt to attack him. He had to admit, the man had spirit.

The dragon opened his muzzle and from deep in his throat came the Song of Nod, which washed over the ranger. It slowed his charge to a halt as he took on a drowsy expression, swayed a bit, and blinked sleepily.

Mesmerized by the sweet, lullaby-like song, Bishop's mind filled with thoughts of soft pillows, warm blankets and silent nights. Fatigue sank into every limb, wove its way through the rest of his body until it was comfortably nestled in his brain.

The sword fell out of his hand, landing on the ground near his foot. He didn't even feel it, nor did he feel it when his body made the same journey.

When Jaelyn decided it was safe to remove her hands from Quin's ears and get to her feet, she turned around to find the ranger lying face down in the dirt. Quin was up behind her, staring down at the sleeping man as well. Jaelyn looked up at Elegy with an accusatory look, hands on her hips. The dragon managed an innocent grin full of razor sharp teeth.

"Was that really necessary?"

"What was I supposed to do?" Elegy replied. "Let him stick me with his sword?"

"You know it wouldn't have hurt you any."

"Nah, but he was getting on my nerves."

Quin nudged the ranger experimentally with his boot, earning a deep snort from the unconscious man.

"Well, he's not dead." Quin noted.

"Of course not." Elegy said. "It's just a minor sleep spell. He'll be up annoying people before you know it."

"I hope so," Jaelyn said with a frown. "Because we need to get to Neverwinter."

"Neverwinter?" Elegy seemed surprised. His bond-mate wasn't known for liking cities, or them liking her, for that matter. "Why?"

"There's a boat we have to catch there."

Elegy gave her a puzzled look. "How do you catch a boat? Some kind of special net or something?"

"I don't mean literally catch a boat. It's a figure of speech, El. The three of us are going to travel on a boat to an island in the Trackless Sea. There's supposed to be some treasure hidden there."

"Treasure, eh?" Elegy grinned again. "Getting back to your dragon roots, I see. Although, song dragons aren't known for treasure hoarding, you know."

"I don't plan to hoard it." Jaelyn said. "Not exactly. I want to raise enough money to build myself a place to live in the wild somewhere. Or maybe to support an adventuring career. I haven't decided yet."

"Right. Then why did you call me?"

Jaelyn's face reddened, though being as dark as it was, no one could actually tell. So, really, it would be safer to say that she felt her face grow hot and managed to look a little guilty about something.

"Er...we need a ride." she replied hastily.

Elegy's serpentine eyes widened. "Ride? You mean...Oh, no! I'm not anyone's transportation!"

"Come on, El. It's just to Neverwinter."

"And how far away is that?"

"Um...I can't say for sure. About seventy or eighty miles to the south."

"And I suppose you'll be wanting to bring _that_ along?" Elegy looked down at the sleeping ranger with a disdainful expression.

Jaelyn nodded with a smile. "I think it would be better if we waited until he was awake, though. I'd hate for him to gain consciousness in mid-flight."

Elegy grinned again. "I wouldn't. In fact, I think it would be quite humorous."

**xxxxxxxxxx**

Bishop came to with a groan, finding a pretty, dark gray-skinned face with pale green eyes looking down at him, framed by a shock of pure white hair.

"Urrrggg..." said the ranger in the groggy fashion of one who has just awakened from a forcefully-induced deep slumber. "What happened?"

That pretty faced grinned at him, which made it all the more prettier.

_Nice smile,_ he thought tiredly and then shook his head. _Stop thinking like that._

"You laid down for a nap." she said in amusement.

His memories flooded back. There was a dragon, which had given him a very reptilian look of cold scrutiny. Then it sneezed on him. Then he got angry, because he was dripping in snot. And then...oh, yeah.

Bishop shot up from where he lay, an infuriated look contorting his features as he fumbled around for his sword, which he seemed to have misplaced.

_Fine time to lose your sword, genius!_ said a sarcastic voice in his head. An inward glare put it in its place.

"All right," he said, hotly. "Where's that little scaly son of a lizard at?"

Jaelyn laid a patient, restraining hand on his chest. The contact made him look at her and narrow his eyes in warning.

"Calm down." she said.

"Calm down?" he demanded in outrage. "_Calm down_? That overgrown reptile drenched me in snot!"

"Well, you're not drenched in it anymore."

"That's not the point."

"It doesn't matter now." Jaelyn said, sighing. "Elegy agreed to fly us to Neverwinter. Don't ruin this."

He glowered at her. "Fine. But I'm not going to forget this."

Jaelyn smiled at him. "Would it help if I offered to buy you a few drinks once we get to the city?"

He raised a brow. "Are you trying to ask me out on a date?"

Jaelyn laughed. "Of course not. What would be the point of going on a date with someone who hates everyone?"

Jaelyn stood up from where she sat and headed over to Quin, where the halfling was talking to the dragon, flailing his arms about in that way he had. One thing about Quin was that he could never seem to talk without moving his hands around in dizzying patterns.

Bishop watched Jaelyn for a moment, wondering if that had been bitterness and disappointment he'd heard in her voice a moment ago. Then he rose and joined them, glaring at the dragon, who was now on the ranger's black list.

"So, now that we're all gathered, can we get this over with?" Elegy said with a bit of irritation.

Quin was already trying to mount the dragon, using his scales as steps until he was seated firmly at Elegy's neck.

"Eager much?" remarked the dragon.

"Indeed!" Quin replied, patting Elegy on the neck as one might do one's horse. "I've always wanted to try this."

"All right, all right," Elegy replied and looked down at Jaelyn. "Well? Hurry up, will you?"

Jaelyn rolled her eyes, gripped the scales on Elegy's flanks and began climbing as graceful as a cat up his side until she was sitting behind Quin. All three of them looked expectantly down at the ranger, who was busy looking out in a copse of trees nearby, as if searching for something.

Jaelyn coughed, loudly.

Bishop looked over his shoulder. "Yeah, in a minute. I've got something to do first."

Without waiting for a reply from the others, he walked off toward the trees, leaving the three to look around at each other in confusion.

"Where's he going?" Quin wondered.

Jaelyn sighed. "I don't know, but he better hurry it up."

Meanwhile, the ranger stepped carefully around the trees, following the scent of his animal companion. The wolf had a particular lavender smell embedded in his coat. It came from years of Bishop having him roll around in the plant. Lavender was good at keeping fleas away and the floral scent was a bonus. Though, admittedly, it was a girly scent, it still beat the smell of a dirty canine anyday.

He paused. The scent was getting stronger.

Bishop gave a quick, high-pitched whistle, and moments later, the wolf came bounding toward him from some shrubs he'd been sniffing around.

Karnwyr was small for a wolf, but not any less vicious. He was remarkably fast and terribly silent on the hunt. He'd killed countless animals and even a handful of armed men. Those were pretty good statistics for a runt.

Bishop had found the wolf over five years ago. He was only a pup at the time, maybe a couple of weeks old. He'd found him caught in some kind of net trap, yowling. He had obviously been abandoned by his mother.

Normally, Bishop wouldn't have bothered with something like that. He would've ignored it and went on his way, but that yowling struck a cord in him that couldn't be ignored. It was like the wolf was yelling at the world, trying to tell someone how unfair it all was. Bishop understood well how unfair it was and understood even better about being abandoned and trapped. It was the cord of empathy that had been struck and on a level in him that had never been struck before. He took the wolf into his care. He raised him to be self-sufficient and trained him to survive. In the beginning, it was done out of mutual understanding, but the relationship gradually grew into friendship, something the ranger came upon rarely in his life. Karnwyr was loyal to him and he was loyal to Karnwyr.

The wolf bumped his right side into the ranger's knees in greeting. His bushy tail went into a side to side frenzy.

Bishop knelt down to his level and gave the canine a good scruff on the back of his neck. Karnwyr accepted the touch, eagerly.

"Gotta go away for a while, runt."

The wolf turned his head to one side and let out a small whine.

Bishop smiled faintly and shook his head. "You can't go where I'm going. Stay in the area and wait for my return."

The wolf whined again.

"I don't know when it'll be. Just wait."

The ranger stood, looking down at the animal. "You know how to survive on your own."

He turned away to head back to the others, but he paused in his stride and looked back over his shoulder. The wolf was still standing there.

Their gazes met, gold on gold.

"I'll return."

The wolf seemed satisfied.

He turned from his master and went back to his former business of sniffing around in the bushes.

Bishop watched him disappear into the foliage and then he, too, turned back to his former business awaiting him in the clearing.

The drow and the halfling were staring into the trees when he reappeared from them. The dragon appeared to be staring ahead, but it wasn't hard to tell that he was watching the ranger out of the corner of his reptilian eye. Humans could easily pull that off, but it was rather difficult for a dragon, whose eyes were nearly as large as a male human's hand.

"Where did you go?" Jaelyn inquired of Bishop.

The ranger scowled. "None of your business."

Jaelyn rolled her eyes. "Fine, then get up here so we can go."

His scowl deepened as he looked over the dragon and then back up at the other two.

"I hate you all." he stated and then began climbing up the dragon's side, cursing all the while.

When he was sitting awkwardly behind Jaelyn, he reached out, wrapped an arm around her waist and jerked her back against his chest, holding her there firmly.

Jaelyn tensed and sucked in a startled breath at the same moment. "Wh-What're you doing?"

"If I die," he growled in her ear, the stubble on his face scraping lightly against her cheek. "I'm taking you with me."

Before she could speak or jab an elbow back into him, Elegy spread his wings with a loud snap, bowed his body toward the ground and lifted off in one great spring that had the trio on his back holding their breaths and holding on for dear life. His large wings flapped against the air and they began to rise farther away from the ground in dipping motions that had the ranger tightening his arm around Jaelyn's midsection until she feared he'd crack her ribs.

"Ribs! My ribs! Let up!" she shouted at him over the sound of Elegy's flapping wings.

It took a moment, a few of them actually, but Bishop eventually loosened his grip...until Elegy's bulk jerked forward and they began flying a couple of hundred feet off the ground. Then he had both arms around her in a tight grip that made her feel like her guts were going to squirt out of every orifice. If she could've looked back and saw his face, she would've seen a rare look of terror there, his teeth clenched and his eyes squeezed shut. But she had her own problems, like trying to breathe.

Jaelyn pinched his arm hard, which only earned her a small groan of pain for her effort and did nothing to lighten the crushing force of his arms.

She turned her head to the side and saw out of the corner of her eyes that he was staring down, his eyes wide and she kept hearing a strange clicking noise that could only be coming from his throat.

"Don't be afraid." she cried over the wind and he did not mistake the humor in her voice.

He hated her for it.

"Heights..." he was able to choke out. "Ugh."

"It just takes getting used to." she told him. The humor was gone now. He liked her for it. "I used to be afraid of heights, too."

Somehow he didn't believe her. She wasn't even holding onto anything.

"Let go." she said.

"Hells no." he replied without hesitation.

"Just trust me."

Somehow he did, though there was currently something inside him screaming _Why? Why, damn you? Why in the Nine Hells would you go and do that?_

When Jaelyn felt his arms unwind, she took him by the wrists and spread his arms out wide. He gave a strangled sound that made her grin.

"Just feel it." she said over her shoulder. "How his body sways. Sway with it. It's no different than riding a horse."

"Are you kidding me?" he shouted. "It's a hundred times different than riding a horse!"

"Not that much different."

"It's a hundred times bigger, a hundred times faster, and a few hundred feet off the godsdamned ground!" he cried. "Urrrrgh." He felt sick.

To make matters worse, Jaelyn had to go and be a show off.

She pulled her legs up and rose up a bit so that she was squatting and then after shifting her balance to fit Elegy's natural sway, she rose up completely until she was standing there between Bishop and Quin, her arms spread out as if she would fly herself, her long white hair streaming out behind her in the wind. She laughed wildly and Bishop couldn't help but stare up at her in alarm with a dash of admiration and a spoonful of contempt. This drow was clearly insane.

"Sit down, please." came Elegy's voice over the wind. "I've told you about that."

Grinning, Jaelyn slid back into position and arms immediately came around her again.

"If I could do that, you don't need to do this." she said in a sigh. "That's why I showed you how easy it is to ride."

"Nah," replied Bishop. "I like my arms where they are."

The slow undulation of Elegy's flight was beginning to make ignoring their close proximity impossible, at least from Bishop's point of view. He had no idea if she noticed it or not, but every time the dragon undulated, her backside rubbed against his...well, let's just say that her southern region was making a lot of contact with his and it was beginning to stir up trouble down there.

He groaned inwardly. If only they weren't on that damn dragon. Better yet, if only that halfling wasn't in the way. He could gather the courage to forget about heights if it meant screwing a drow in mid-flight on a dragon. Now there was something to brag about! The dragon probably wouldn't appreciate, though.

_Ugh, gods._

After this, he was either going to have to find a good brothel or a cold shower.

"Bishop?"

"Hnh?" he replied, dazed.

Jaelyn cleared her throat. "Uhm...would you happen to be carrying something in your front pocket?"

He cleared his throat, noisily. "As a matter of fact...yeah."

"Nothing...um...fleshy?"

"Nope." he lied. It was better if she didn't know.

Jaelyn let off a sigh of relief. "Okay, good."

But he couldn't help himself. "What did you think it was?"

As he expected, she said in a somewhat nervous tone "Oh, nothing. I was just...um...making sure...uh, you know what? Nevermind."

He grinned.

**xxxxxxxxxx**

Forty-five minutes later, Elegy was landing somewhere in a field on the outskirts of the city of Neverwinter, out of sight. At least that was what the dragon had thought. However, Jaelyn had noticed one gate guard fall backward into a faint when he saw them, which meant that they would be gathering a small force to come investigate once their comrade gained consciousness.

"We need to do this fast." she said as she slid down from Elegy's back. "We were seen."

The dragon snorted. "All that effort I made into not being seen, wasted!"

"Some effort." remarked Bishop once he landed firmly on the ground, deeply relieved that he was feeling solid dirt under his feet again and that he was not six feet under it. "You're a godsdamned dragon. You can't not be seen. Unless you have the power to go invisible. I'm guessing _you_ don't."

The dragon swiped his long, barbed tail at the ranger, narrowly missing him as he dodged away. A shame, too. He would've knocked the sarcastic bastard right into a tree.

Quin was the next to dismount the dragon, holding the large sack that contained his and Jaelyn's equipment. Unfortunately, Quin went off the dragon first and then the sack followed, landing squarely on top of the halfling. Jaelyn leaped forward to help while Bishop laughed and the dragon snickered.

"And here I thought that half-man would be good for nothing." the ranger said. "Turns out he's good for a laugh."

"You could help, you know." Jaelyn scolded him.

Bishop shrugged. "I could, but I'm not going to."

Once Jaelyn got the halfling to his feet, Quin wobbled, looking dazed and Jaelyn had to steady him. After she was certain the halfling could stand on his own, or at least sway equally to each side, she looked up at Elegy, pulling the hood of her cloak up, tucking any stray strands of pure white hair back.

"Thanks for the ride, El."

"Anything for my bond-mate."

"You better get going before those gate guards show up." she said and went to the dragon, wrapping her small arms around his leg in an embrace. "Give my love to the clan, will you?"

Elegy nodded and brushed a wing against her back. "Take care, Jae."

He turned his bulk toward the ranger, who backed up a bit in caution. Elegy lowered his head until they were nearly eye to eye. He noted with satisfaction that the human held his breath.

"You." Elegy addressed him in gritty tones. "Watch over my bond-mate."

Bishop opened his mouth to protest, but the dragon drew away, lifted into the air and disappeared over the horizon, blowing up dust and uprooting more trees in his wake.

A moment later, a group of soldiers from the city came stumbling half out of breath toward them, their weapons drawn.

"Dragon!" one of them was able to spit out between frantic breaths, his eyes wide inside his metal helm. He jabbed a finger at the sky for emphasis. "Big...dragon!"

Jaelyn looked among her companions as if confused.

"Did either of you see a dragon?"

"Dragon? What's a dragon?" Quin replied with a grin.

"Actually I think I saw a-oof!" the ranger's words were cut off by a stomach full of elbow, which just so happened to belong to the irate drow standing next to him.

"No dragon?" one of the soldiers asked, eyeing them suspiciously.

"We didn't see anything, sorry." Jaelyn said.

The group of armed men looked around at each other, shrugged, and then trudged back to the city, seeming incredibly relieved.

When they were gone, Jaelyn spun on her heel to face the ranger, rage in her eyes.

"Next time, it'll be a knee to the groin!" she shouted at him, jabbing him hard in the chest with her finger to emphasize every word, and then she stomped off in the direction of the city.

Quin looked at him, humor on his small face. "You're not doing so well with her, you know."

Bishop shrugged. "I'm not trying to."

He stalked off after the drow.

Quin shook his head, sighed, and hurried after them, dragging the sack behind him.

The trio passed the gate into the city, and the small troop of guards they had seen earlier were now standing together, their attention on one of the gate guards.

"I tell you, I saw a dragon! A violet one!" the man was saying desperately, waving his hands about in excitement, as if it would make them believe him.

"Sure ya did." one of the other guards replied with a voice laced in sarcasm. "And I'm the friggin' queen of Illefarn. 'Twas no dragon ya saw, Larl. I say you's been taken to the bottle on duty again. The cap'n's gonna hear 'bout this."

"I tell you..."

The gate guard's voice faded out of earshot as the three companions made their way across the cobbled street, pausing as they came to an intersection.

Neverwinter was a sprawling cosmopolitan where just about anyone that could do anything that even remotely resembled a talent could find a place for themselves. Even the thieves and murderers had an easy living in Neverwinter. Its rich architecture and wide avenues lent an air of sophistication and serenity. It also attracted many visitors from all over the Sword Coast. The city's current population stood at a whopping twenty thousand and rising. Most of the residents were either human or half-elves with elves coming in at third place, and only a light sprinkling of gnomes and halflings. It wasn't impossible to see a half-orc or two prowling around, though they mostly kept to the Docks where they made a living as pirates or thieves, or the occasional tavern strong-arm. The Merchant Quarter was well-known for its assorted vendors, where one might find just about anything one wanted, from weapons and armor to exotic foods, herbs and potions, both legal or otherwise, though the procedure for purchasing the latter was nearly always 'under the cart' or in dark alleyways.

In the northern half of the city, sitting upon a hill, loomed Castle Never, which peered down its stone nose at the 'lower' parts of the city. Blacklake, the district belonging to the 'upper crust' of Neverwinter sat just below it, where the lords and ladies of Neverwinter milled about the polished streets with a self-imposed air of pompousness. Unlike the other districts of the city, Blacklake was patrolled by an elite guard, who stubbornly and brutally enforced the laws of Neverwinter's ruler, Lord Nasher Alagondar. The Docks and the Merchant Quarter, however, were patrolled day and night by the Citywatch, Neverwinter's lower level law enforcers-notoriously known for their lenient dealings with criminals-and the thorn in the backside of almost every thief in the city, who usually had to bribe away freshly-stolen gold just to avoid an hour long 'stern talking to' or receiving threats of having their naughty deeds exposed to their parents.

At the moment, the mid-afternoon sun shone down upon the City of Skilled Hands, reflecting off the cobbled streets and glittering upon the surface of the ocean, which stretched out lazily from the harbor. Anchored boats rocked with the water's gentle sway, knocking timidly against their piers. The wind was calm where the ocean was concerned but it blew forcefully into the white sails of the docked ships, which slapped back in defiance. The docks themselves were swarming with longshoremen, who ran to and fro as busily as ants who'd just woken up to find that a particularly large bread crumb had fallen from the unknown and landed just outside their hill. Large wooden crates and other cargo were being moved about at break-neck speed and were eventually getting mixed up in the bustle. The dock-master stood in the midst of the chaos overseeing the operations, barking orders, sweating a lot, and losing his temper everytime recently unloaded cargo ended up getting loaded again, or loaded cargo found its way back to the dock, or when some idle dock-hand felt it was the perfect moment to plop down on a crate and have a smoke.

The rest of the city was relatively peaceful. Citizens strolled the avenues, greeting neighbors and strangers alike before continuing on their journey to No Where In Particular. Vendors and their carts crowded the streets as they peddled their goods at the top of their lungs to startled passersby. A few people stood about idly, engaged in aimless conversation. A child ran after his dog in a failed attempt to leash it. His mother followed behind with the day's news parchments rolled up into a canine disciplinary tube, an irritated look on her face.

Citywatchmen strolled by every once in a while, looking mostly harmless in their shining metal armor and royal blue cloaks, and holding an expression of wistful boredom.

Then there were the three newcomers, looking mighty out of place in the midst of city life. One of them, a rough-hewn, human male-and a ranger by all accounts-glanced around through narrowed, disapproving golden eyes. Beside him was a female shape, cloaked, hooded, and wearing dark leathers. Every inch of her was suspiciously covered. Though no expression could be seen through the dark hood, there was an uneasiness to her stance as she fiddled with a dagger on her belt. Standing before them was what, from a distance, could have been a child, but was in fact a halfling. He stared about with wide, gleaming blue eyes, a grin of excitement plastered on his face. He might have been a child at a carnival. He was dressed in black leather and cloaked in deep purple. He half-carried and half-dragged a large sack that was nearly as big as he was.

"I say," Quin spoke, his voice a plethora of joy. "I've heard the tales of Neverwinter, but I never imagined it to be like this!"

"You've never been here?" asked Jaelyn.

"Nope, I'm a Neverwinter virgin. So, where shall we go first? I'm eager to get a look at the city."

"Shouldn't we find this boat?"

"No need." Quin replied with his trademark grin. "I can see it from here."

"You can? Which one is it?"

Jaelyn followed his pointing finger to an impressive, double-masted vessel with broad white sails, dark, beautiful wood and with a carved figurehead of something with the lower half of a fish and the upper half of a wolf, which snarled in their direction.

"That's her, the Seawolf; a merchant ship, from what I hear."

Jaelyn looked down at Quin with a raised brow. "Isn't that an odd name for a merchant vessel?"

Quin shrugged. "I didn't name her."

"Are you sure this friend of yours will let us on? I imagine he's got better places to go than twelve hundred miles into the Trackless Sea."

Quin's mouth spread into another grin. It wasn't the trademark grin. It was a grin full of mischievousness; a grin that meant trouble.

"I wasn't planning on asking him, actually."

The ranger looked at him with a scowl. "You planned to have us stowaway?"

"No..."

"Then what?" Jaelyn asked. "If we don't ask your friend or if we don't stowaway, then I don't see how we're going to get on this..."

She trailed off as a horrid thought occurred to her. When she looked down at Quin's impish face again, the thought was confirmed.

"Steal it?" she said, shocked. "Are you crazy? Why would you steal your friend's ship?"

The halfling boiled over with laughter. "I never said he was a friend. I just said I knew a guy with a boat."

Jaelyn sagged. "I knew I should've asked a whole lot of questions before I agreed to this."

"Don't worry, Jae Bird." Quin said. "It'll be a cinch."

Jaelyn took a deep breath to calm her nerves and then straightened up with what she hoped was a bit of confidence. "All right, so what do we need to do, then?"

"Hold on," Bishop interrupted. "How in the hells do you expect us to get anywhere on that ship with no one to navigate it?"

The grin came back again, leaving the ranger perturbed. "Don't worry. I've got it all planned out. You just leave everything to me."

"Somehow, that doesn't seem wise." said the ranger. "Why do I get the feeling we're going to find ourselves hopelessly lost in the middle of the ocean?"

Jaelyn peered at him from behind her hood, a thin smile on her lips. "Being hopelessly lost would be a picnic compared to the other things we might face. Did you ever consider that we'll be sailing a merchant ship in a sea teeming with pirates? I've heard the stories about what happens to women captured by pirates. They're...not pleasant."

Bishop snorted. "What've you got to worry about? One look at you and they'll reconsider any salacious motives."

Jaelyn glared at him.

It was strange. He could in no way see that glare, but he sure as the hells could feel it. Even stranger was the fact that it had a feel as if she had reached out and smacked him in the face.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she snapped.

"Come off it." he replied with an impatient roll of his eyes. "You know as much as I do that no surface-dwelling male is going to bother with you, not even the worst kind of male. You're unnatural."

His cruel words did what they were set out to do. They hurt.

Jaelyn stood there a moment, stricken and at a loss for words. Warm moisture stung her eyes. Then, still in that silence, she turned away and walked off toward a nearby tavern, her emotions racing. It looked like Despair would come out the winner, but it was too depressed to heft the trophy.

The halfling turned to Bishop. He was frowning. Sort of. Even frowning Quin looked like he was smiling. The tone in his next words, however, belied his perpetual happy-face.

"Who in the hells are you to say something like that to her?" Quin demanded, angrily.

Bishop shrugged, uncaring. "And what would you have me tell her? Some fabrication to give her false hope? That'd do more damage to her than the truth ever would."

"No, it wouldn't, because there actually is hope for her in this world." the halfling said, solemnly. "If there wasn't, would we be here?"

The ranger frowned, not following Quin's train of thought. "What?"

"You say no one will ever accept her."

"It's obvious."

"Have we not accepted her?"

"Maybe you have..."

"You're saying you don't accept her?" Quin replied. "If you didn't, you wouldn't be traveling with us and you most likely would've attacked her on spot the same way everyone else does."

"Look," Bishop growled at him out of impatience with the whole conversation. "I don't care what she is or what she isn't. And that's exactly the thing. I just don't care. It has nothing to do with me accepting her. It has to do with me not giving one damn about either of you. Get it?"

"But that's something, isn't it? I mean, it means something, doesn't it, that you see past her heritage where others don't, even if it is merely disregard for people in general? Maybe people in the world need to be more like you. I mean, if more people just didn't give a damn, I think there'd be a lot less hatred."

Bishop shook his head in astonishment. "I think you're a little touched in the head, half-man."

"What?" Quin replied, spreading his hands before himself helplessly. "It makes sense."

"Only to a halfling."

"I think we should go with Jaelyn." Quin opted. "Maybe you could apologize to her. It was an awful cruel thing to say."

As they set off toward the Golden Apple, Bishop glanced down at the halfling with a smirk.

"Sure, I'll apologize...when the hells freeze over."

"One layer of the hells already is frozen." Quin pointed out.

"Fine. Then I'll do it when they all freeze over."

"I could apologize for you."

Bishop glared at him. "Do that and I'll remove that hideous, empty thing from your shoulders."

Quin gave him a quizzical look. "What hideous, empty thing?"

Bishop grinned, nastily. "Your head."

The halfling frowned. "You're a very insulting, violent person, aren't you?"

"Figure that out all by yourself, did you?"

"And sarcastic."

"Shut up."

Neverwinter's docks district had only two taverns. One of them was called the Sunken Flagon and was looked upon as a reputable establishment, favored by the docks' hard-working, law-abiding inhabitants and curious, out-of-town visitors. Then there was the Golden Apple. Although it was not the worst tavern to be had along the Sword Coast, it did have a reputation as a place that saw its fair share of shady activity, most of which revolved around Neverwinter's underground circuit of thieves and smugglers. Also, it was known for its countless brawls, which were said to occur at least twice every hour of the day.

So, it was not surprising that when Quin and Bishop approached the door, they could hear the unmistakable crashes, thuds, and muffled cries of pain of yet another infamous Golden Apple tavern brawl. The ranger was the first one to make it to the door and the moment his hand fell to the handle, a large man went flying out of the window at his left in a shatter of glass. The cacophony of aggression and violence spilled out of the broken window into the street. A couple of people passing by didn't even bat an eye.

The large man, who'd just had his first failed lesson in flying, gurgled on the ground in agony and then lay still. He wasn't dead as far as the ranger could tell, just deeply unconscious. There was a large cut on his forehead, leaking blood down his ugly, scarred face.

A feminine scream broke his attention from the man and brought his gaze back around to the door.

"That was Jae." Quin spoke up from behind him in a tone of anxiety.

The halfling prodded him in the small of the back urgently. "Come on."

The ranger was in no hurry. He already knew what he would find when he opened the door. The drow's cry had not been one of distress.

When the two males entered the tavern, they both looked upon the chaos, sighting Jaelyn, who stood in the midst of it all, surrounded by a ring of angry men.

Bishop wondered if they had found out what she was. He hadn't remembered hearing any cries of 'drow!'. In fact, all he'd heard before they'd entered was a lot of men groaning and grunting in pain.

He looked back at Jaelyn and noted that not a single scratch lay on her and that there was a good number of unconscious bodies at her feet. Some of them were probably never going to get up again.

A strange feeling came over him then, something warm and tingly that he didn't much care for. It was a small degree of admiration.

The halfling moved forward, his stride full of purpose, but Bishop pulled him back by his collar, shaking his head when the short man looked up at him with inquiry all over his face.

"Let's see how this plays out." he said to that look, which then contorted into a frown.

"We can't let her fight them alone." Quin insisted.

"Something tells me she's not going to need the help." the ranger replied with a smirk, returning his gaze to the drow while keeping a firm grip on the halfling.

They stood back and watched, closely.

Jaelyn, unarmed, faced five royally pissed men, armed with an assortment of weapons. One man, the largest of all of them, carried an axe, two had swords, another wielded a cudgel, and the final man had a rapier.

The man with the cudgel came at her first, followed by one of the sword-wielders, who moved up behind her. The cudgel came hard and high and at the last moment, Jaelyn ducked low and heard a loud crack, followed by a deep groan and a solid thud. When she straightened up, she saw that the man with the sword was now a heap on the floor, his head leaking on the hardwood.

The cudgel came again. She dodged it and was lucky enough to get her hand on the man's arm, holding it in a grip that was near impossible to escape. He jerked and pulled, but she held on like a ravenous tick on a particularly fat dog. There was a sick snapping noise as Jaelyn twisted the man's wrist until the bones there decided they could no longer handle the pressure. He stumbled back with a high-pitched cry, holding his oddly proportioned hand to his chest. He looked up at her with nothing but hatred in his gaze, trying in the name of male pride to peer past the shadows of that hood to look upon the kind of woman that could break a man's wrist with almost no effort at all. It was probably better that he didn't know.

Wisely, the man decided it was probably not a good idea to stick around for more abuse. He stumbled his way toward the door, pushing past the ranger and the halfling.

"This one thinks she's tough, she does." said the other man with the sword. "Let's see how well she stands against three of us at once."

They all charged at her as one and then something happened that Quin and Bishop would never forget.

The moment the brutes closed in, Jaelyn threw herself down into a crouch and then somersaulted to the side where she slipped in a puddle of spilled ale and rolled under a table. The three men, trying to untangle themselves from each other, scrambled after her. The large man with the axe reached her first. He had the unfortunate stupidity to think he had enough power to send his axe through ten inches of solid duskwood in one go. The axe came down and sunk into the wood with a deafening crack. The wood did in fact split, but it held under the assault all the same. The man growled in irritation as he tried to wrench his axe out of the table unsuccessfully while the other two waited with impatience for him to get out of the way.

Under the table, Jaelyn lifted a foot and drove it effectively into the man's groin. Bishop winced, feeling a small degree of male-inspired sympathy for the man who had just keeled over, curled into a ball of agony and vomited. Quin groaned and held his privates as if what had just happened had been mutually felt.

The other two men closed in on the table, nudging the large ball-shaped man-who was now unconscious in a puddle of his own puke-away.

A rapier thrust under the table, blindly seeking flesh and Jaelyn flattened herself against the floor, waiting for the blade to withdraw. When it did, she planted both feet up against the underside of the table and kicked with all her might.

The table flew up and overturned on the rapier wielder. Both landed with a crunch, man first and table second. The sword wielder had enough sense to jump out of the way in time.

He spun to face her now, a sneer on his face that quickly transitioned into a wide-eyed expression of terror and hatred.

It was an expression Jaelyn knew well, an expression that greeted her at every city gate and every village approach.

"Dro-" the man began to cry and was made silent just in time by a gloved fist.

He crumpled into a heap at her feet and Jaelyn quickly pulled her hood back over her head, stepped over the unconscious man and went to the bar, unaware that her companions had been there the entire time.

She leaned over the bar as Quin and Bishop came up to join her.

Through the entire ordeal, the barkeep had been crouched behind his bar to wait out the storm, swigging from a bottle of whiskey and trying to remember why he thought it was a good idea to open a bar in the rough part of the district.

"Do you mind?" Jaelyn said to him, impatiently.

The bald man looked up at her, brows wrinkled and his mouth set in a thin frown. "You done destroying my tavern?"

She shrugged. "That depends on how many more idiots decide to annoy me. A good drink might calm me down, though."

Another face appeared over the counter at the barkeep, a rough face set with a grin.

"I'd hop to it if I were you." said Bishop. "She just took out an entire tavern of cutthroats. I don't think you want to keep someone like that waiting."

Jaelyn turned slightly, regarded him with an unpleasant look that he could not see (but could feel), and then gave an indignant sniff as she faced forward and sat hard in a stool.

Apparently, she was still in a taking with him for his comment earlier.

A small hand slapped against the small of her back as the bartender dragged himself to his feet.

"I say," Quin said. "Way to put those miscreants in their place, Jae."

The bartender stared about his establishment and then looked at her in shock. "You did all this?"

She shrugged. "They asked for it."

"How did this all start?" Quin asked.

"Some presumptuous fool got it in his head that I'd enjoy being randomly groped." she replied and then waved an indicating hand at the mess behind her. "Obviously, I do not."

The barkeep sighed miserably. "What a disaster. This'll take me weeks to clean up!"

Jaelyn wasn't in any mood for complaints. "How about a little less whine and a little more...well, wine."

She pulled a pouch from her belt and sat it on the bar in front of its owner. "That ought to cover some of the damage, as well as our bar tabs. Now, fill'er up."

The barkeep frowned, opened the pouch with dirty fingers and peered inside at the many, many gold coins. He then looked up at her with brightened eyes, shrugged, and pocketed the gold.

"Well, what'll you have?"

"Ale."

"Two shots of Gibbering Lich." said Bishop, earning a raised brow from the barkeep. He glared. "What? I didn't stutter."

"You don't look like you can handle it." the barkeep dared.

"You're paid to make drinks, not comments." Bishop snapped, hotly. "So make it, before I make you a corpse."

The barkeep frowned. "No need to get all violent about it. I was just making an innocent observation."

"Yeah? Like making observations, do you? Then observe this."

The ranger's hand was a blur of movement and then something zipped by the barkeep's ear, nicking it before it embedded itself in the wall behind him. The barkeep spun about to see a dagger quivering in the wall. When he looked back, Bishop was glaring at him again.

The barkeep blanched and touched his bleeding ear. "All right. All right, you've made your point."

He pulled the dagger from the wall, handed it cautiously back to the ranger and began preparing his drink first.

"Well," Quin said after a moment of silence. "You two enjoy your drinks. I'm off to inquire to some friends of mine about a certain boat."

He winked at them and then hurried out of the tavern.

A few moments later, the barkeep served their drinks and said "You need anything else, I'll be in the back."

He disappeared through a door behind the bar, leaving the two rangers alone. Well, technically they weren't alone. There was still a number of unconscious men laying around behind them, but it was incredibly silent. It was one of those silences that stood out and couldn't be ignored, a silence that was louder than noise.

Bishop peered down at one of his drinks and without looking at her, he slid it across the bar to Jaelyn.

"Drink it."

"Why?" she said in a snappish tone.

"It'll help that attitude of yours."

She didn't reply, she wasn't in the mood to. She looked down at the brown substance that seemed to have a life of its own inside the shot glass. She was almost afraid it would come alive, hop out of the glass and walk across the bar.

"It looks...active."

Bishop smiled faintly. "It's got personality, that's for sure. One shot will get anyone drunk. A second has been known to kill."

Jaelyn looked at him from the dark recesses of her hood. "That's got to be tavern talk."

He shrugged. "It's not. I can hardly make it past one and I consider myself a heavy drinker."

She gave him a nasty smirk. "Alcoholic?"

"Nah. I just like to drink." he replied without offense.

"That's something an alcoholic would say."

He gave her a firm look. "Just drink it and shut up."

Jaelyn looked down at the shot glass, uncertainly. She picked it up and brought it to her lips. The drink had a stomach-turning smell. She noticed then that the ranger was watching her with something that passed for anticipation and curiosity.

She pulled it back a moment. "Stop looking at me like that. You're making me think I'm drinking poison here."

"Could be." he hazarded.

She wondered if he was challenging her or warning her. Her competitive nature won out over caution, which was sulking quietly and with great care.

Jaelyn brought the small glass to her mouth and threw it back neatly.

There was a moment where Jaelyn tried not to gag at the taste, and just when she was about to determine that it was not that bad, all hell broke loose in her mouth and throat. It burned like fire, then tingled, then grew cold, and then there was a brief lull as relief flooded her senses only for her mouth to start burning like acid again. It was mouth torture. Her eyes were watering and her nose felt like someone had shoved a lit torch up each nostril. The gods only knew what it would do to her insides.

When the torment finally ended, Jaelyn produced a neat chain of swear words that would've offended a Luskan pirate and had the ranger laughing hard, which was a feat in itself, for he was not prone to true laughter, or any pleasant emotion or reaction, for that matter.

It wasn't fall-out-of-your-chair or tears-of-mirth laughter, but it was enough to give the muscles in his gut a little work out. They were aching when it was all over and done with.

Jaelyn could feel the alcohol already taking effect on her mind, which was gently reeling about.

"Whoa..." she muttered. "That didn't take long."

Bishop grinned. "Never does."

He downed his own shot finally, unable to suppress a grimace as it burned like lava down his throat and probably had the same destructive effect as well.

There was that loud silence again, broken only by a muffled groan from some unconscious person behind them. Anyone had yet to come to.

Jaelyn took a long pull from her tankard of ale, which earned another rare look of admiration from the ranger. Anyone who could chase a shot of Gibbering Lich with anything was a tough cookie in his book.

Maybe he'd been wrong before.

No, that wasn't it. He was just drunk.

And it was probably the intoxication that began speaking for him, for he suddenly said, or tried to say "Maybe before I shaid...I mean, before I didn't shay...uhm..."

The room was spinning. He rubbed his forehead as he tried to remember what he was going to say.

"Did I shay summin?"

Jaelyn looked at him through her unfocused, spinning vision. She was swaying a bit on her stool.

"Somtin un...untural..natoril...um...wha word ish it?"

"Unnuetral!" the ranger said triumphantly and then frowned. "No...errr...un...unneutered!"

"Un...un...not...normal?"

He slapped her on the back amiably. She almost fell off her stool and her hood fell back.

"Thas it! Unnotnormal!"

Jaelyn grinned. "Right! Uhm...wha 'bout it?"

"I shaid that...before."

"Er..."

Bishop leaned very close to her and smiled stupidly.

"S'not true."

Jaelyn blinked. "S'not?" She laughed loudly. "Snot."

"Huh-uh." He leaned against an elbow. "Know whas unnotnormal?"

"Lossa things." she guessed.

He nodded, but only because nodding was so much easier when your head feels too heavy to shake.

"I mean spefishcially..."

Jaelyn giggled in a way she hadn't since she was a little girl.

He was vaguely aware of her hand on his knee as one might notice a harmless fly on their arm, but when he looked down at it, all feeling traveled there at uncanny speed, and then he was aware of only her hand on his knee.

She was staring at her hand as well, wondering in astonishment how it had gotten there, but she realized that she didn't mind it being there, and actually, it felt kind of good to make contact with another person. It was a bit mesmerizing, for she had never touched another human before, at least not in any gentle manner such as this.

Jaelyn flushed and took her hand back.

She inhaled in surprise when his fingers closed around her wrist. Jaelyn looked up at him, their eyes met, and the rest was inevitable. There was a gleam of drunken lust in his gold eyes, and his libido, made indomitable by a potent cocktail of strong alcohol, attraction to the woman next to him, and a few tendays of sexual deprivation, took hold.

In the space of a heartbeat, he closed in on her and grabbed behind her neck. She squeaked in surprise, but it was muffled a second later by his mouth, which pressed hard and demanding against her own.

For a moment, she responded to him purely out of instinctual desire. He was a man, an attractive one, and she was female. Therefore, loins were bound to stir. It was only natural. It had nothing to do with him personally.

But cold, hard realization cut through her intoxicated haze, gifting her with a moments worth of sobriety. He had actually initiated the whole thing, which left her perturbed, because she was drow, thus any instinctual desire couldn't exist on his part, or so she believed.

She mumbled something against his mouth that drew them apart.

"Huh?" he said, blinking at her.

"Drow. I'm a drow." she said, her pale green eyes filling with tears. "You can't."

Bishop's eyes narrowed in further confusion. "Eh?"

"I'm drow!" she shouted in despair while grabbing his shoulders and shaking him wildly. He could actually feel his brains rattling like dice inside his skull. "Ya know s'not right. So, why? Why, damn you?"

He shoved her away with a glare. "Cut it out, you crazy bitch!"

Jaelyn, half-sobbing, turned and fled the tavern, stumbling over an unconscious man and falling before she could make it to the door.

When it finally slammed behind her, the ranger, trying to hold on to his spinning head, stared at the door for a moment, then shrugged and reached across the bar to grab her tankard, which was still half-filled with ale.

He drained it and then tumbled, unconscious, to the tavern floor.

Fortunately, neither of them would remember anything passed the point of drinking the shot of Gibbering Lich. However, a certain barkeep would.


	3. Chapter 3: The Seawolf

**xxxxxx**

* * *

**Chapter Three:**

**The Seawolf**

**xxxxxx**

**Jaelyn** awoke to a hammering head and found, to her astonishment and weariness that she was on the roof of someone's house. She couldn't even venture a guess as to how she got there, but she was pretty sure it had a lot to do with the fact that she'd been drinking.

The last thing she remembered was that shot of Gibbering Lich, something she would now refer to as only a torture device for the mouth. After that, it all went black.

"Ugh..." she said, her hands against her skull in a desperate attempt to keep it from falling apart. "Never again, Jaelyn. Never again."

Gingerly, she pulled her hood over her head, got to her feet, and climbed her way down from the roof to an alleyway.

Jaelyn peered around the corner, wondering where the other two might be. If she'd ended up on some random rooftop, then there was no telling where Quin or Bishop might be.

Actually, it was easier than she thought.

She found both males standing at the docks, speaking with two other men, who looked like they had just crawled out of the sea after a particularly strong tropical storm. One of them had bright red hair, which seemed to defy gravity. He had a dark red bandanna across his forehead, decked out in strips of seaweed and shells. His skin was golden-brown, a strange contrast to his hair. He was garbed in a long off-white tunic, opened at the chest where dozens of gold, silver and other assorted chains hung against the nest of red hair there. Blue and white striped trousers were tucked into ridiculously large and floppy black boots with big silver buckles. To top off that ancient pirate look, there was a superb cutlass belted at his left hip.

The other man was large, tall, and dark-skinned with black, dread-locked hair, which resembled an ink-drenched mop. Some of the dreadlocks were woven with shells and framed his angular face. He had on a heavy black coat, despite the hot weather, and faded black trousers which were tucked into worn black boots. Apparently, this man liked black. He also carried a cutlass; two of them, actually, and both resting there against his hips.

As Jaelyn watched them on her approach, she saw gold pass from Quin to the dark-skinned man in black, who nodded and patted the halfling in a companionable manner on the shoulder. He then grinned and the whole world seemed to fill with light. Jaelyn had to stop in her stride and shield her eyes until the man closed his mouth. He had enough mouth gold to buy a mansion in Waterdeep and still have enough left over for a considerable nest egg. It was probably the most expensive mouth Jaelyn had ever seen, or really, not seen, for it was physically impossible to stare at that mouth, unless one had no real qualm about going blind.

The light seemed to dull and when Jaelyn took her hand away from her eyes, she saw that the man with the gold mouth was heading off toward a shop along the docks, his friend following behind.

"What was that about?" Jaelyn inquired when she joined them.

"Oh, those were the men who're going to navigate the ship for us." Quin replied. "I persuaded them to take us to the island."

Jaelyn smiled slyly. "I wonder how you did that."

Quin grinned his grin. "I offered him some more metal for his mouth."

The drow laughed. "I've never seen that much gold in a person's mouth before. You could buy Neverwinter if you knocked all his teeth out."

"He's got a reputation to uphold, you know." Quin replied.

"Huh?"

"He used to be a pirate. Legendary, actually, until he decided to live a more peaceful life as the captain of a merchant ship. But he kept the pirate image."

"He's the captain of the Seawolf?"

"Er...he is now." said the halfling. "He used to have his own ship, but it sunk."

"Oh, that's nice to hear." remarked Bishop with a timbre full of sarcasm.

"It wasn't his fault, though."

"Oh, no?"

"No." Quin replied. "You see, he was attacked by pirates."

Jaelyn laughed. "Now, that's what I call irony. So, when are we going?"

"When we're ready. I must insist that we purchase some supplies first. It's a long journey to...this unnamed island and no doubt we'll need enough food to last us the trip, suitable clothing-I don't know about either of you, but this hot weather is making my leather armor stick to me, which is quite uncomfortable-definitly some suntan lotion, because I burn easily. Uh, let's see...well, I'm sure I'll think of some more things."

"Do we have enough gold for all this?" Jaelyn asked. "Er...I kind of spent all mine on a tavern yesterday."

"I don't have a single copper to my name." added the ranger with a sour look, as he remembered a certain hourglass-figured blond wench that had not been worth the gold.

Jaelyn looked at him. "What, you too?"

He didn't reply.

"Don't worry." Quin assured. "I've got the gold."

An hour later, the trio was heading back to the docks, now carrying more supplies than they knew what to do with. Some of the items, Jaelyn noticed, were things they didn't even need. There were some kind of clubs in a long bag that was slung over Quin's shoulder. When she had asked what they were for, he had told her to practice driving, though she had no idea what that was.

"Golf." Quin explained. "Haven't you ever played?"

Jaelyn had given him a meaningful look.

"Oh, right. Raised by dragons." Quin said, nodding. "Well, you see, golf is a Calimshan sport. Mostly played by people of higher class, pashas and the like. I used to be good friends with a pasha's son and he taught me to play. As I understand it, you just use those clubs to hit at a small ball on the ground to see how far you can make it go. I never quite understood the rules myself and there seems to be no scoring, but it's addictive and there's a lot of swearing involved. At least there was when I watched the pasha and his son play. It's also supposed to relieve stress, but with all that screaming of profanities..."

The halfling shook his head and shrugged. "Well, you'll see the game for yourself once we set sail. I'll teach you, and the ranger if he's interested."

Of course, at the time the ranger wasn't around to hear him. He'd gone off by himself and returned a short time later with a large jug in tow. Jaelyn had eyed it suspiciously.

"What's that?"

He'd smirked, which was something Jaelyn thought of as a sign of trouble, much like Quin's grin, and hefted the jug up, giving it a little slap on the glass.

"This," he said. "Is going to make sea life a lot more tolerable."

Jaelyn grinned behind her hood. "So, you're afraid of heights and you get seasick? You're just a barrel of fun, aren't you?"

The ranger narrowed his eyes at her.

"I don't get seasick, but I do get bored, and when I get bored, I get homicidal." he informed. "And trust me, you don't want me to get homicidal."

"Well, I just hope it's not that stuff you made me drink last night, Jittery Ghoul, or whatever it was called." she said.

"Gibbering Lich."

"I think it may have set fire to my brain overnight, because I woke up this morning feeling...burnt out and for some reason, my mouth tasted like ash."

Bishop nodded.

She'd been lucky. When he'd regained consciousness in the tavern, he found he'd passed out on the germ-laden floor amongst a cesspool of grime, blood, sweat and dirt, and the gods only knew what else. He also couldn't remember a thing after his shot of Lich. And he was pretty certain some remarkably intelligent bacteria had constructed a decent-sized city on the floorboards under his face. Vaguely, he remembered stumbling off to the local brothel. Things went black from there. Then when he'd awoken this morning, he found himself laying on another floor. Fortunately, this one was a bit more sanitary than the last and the bacteria was only large enough to build a small village under his face, but consciousness came with a vicious headache this time, as if a porcupine had crawled inside his head and exploded. That was the Lich doing what it did, he knew, but there was a different ache at the back of his head that had nothing to do with hangovers. When he put his hand there, there was a lump and when he brought it back there was a red splotch on his palm. He then noticed that all his gold was gone, and he knew it had been stolen and he knew who'd done the deed. There was no whore in all the docks district that cost more than five thousand gold, but there were plenty with sticky fingers and who usually carried a club or some other weapon on their person.

After a long bout of swearing and tearing the room apart in his ungovernable rage, the ranger had stormed his way down the stairs to the brothel's common room, hell-bent on finding the bitch that had stolen his gold and giving her what-for. Unfortunately, he found the blond whore surrounded by a small legion of sneering guards, half of them two of three feet taller and sturdier than Bishop and carrying weapons that could easily cleave him in two. Self-preservation was already lining him up for the door. But anger still boiled in his veins and he glanced back over his shoulder before leaving and said: "You little bitch. You're just lucky you've got those brutes in front of you, otherwise, you'd be a few fingers short. You better pray to the gods we never meet in a dark alley somewhere."

Not one of his best threats, admittedly, but he was furious and hungover and when he was furious and hungover the clever portion of his brain signed out and went on vacation.

He frowned and said to the drow "The Lich does that. Just be thankful you're alive. Others haven't been so lucky."

"I suppose it's an experience I can add under my belt." she said thoughtfully. "Though, I will never touch the stuff again as long as I live. And you drink it regularly?"

Bishop rose a brow. "Impossible to drink one right after another, unless you don't mind dying. I wait until it's out of my system before I go for another. Do that over a couple of days and you'll find yourself seriously screwed up. It's like flirting with death."

"Maybe like riding a dragon?" she replied with a smile.

He scowled at her. "That's different."

"Is it?"

"Yeah, 'cause when you're hundreds of feet up in the air on an unsteady beast, death is staring you right in the face. Drinking Lich, it's like you feel him creeping up behind you and then drawing away at the last second."

At her puzzled silence, he sighed in irritation and added "What I'm saying is, I'd rather not see death coming. With Lich, it's like he's back there waiting for it to happen even though he knows he's never going to get it."

"He?"

"You know what I mean. In any case, Lich will never kill me at the rate I drink it."

"I think your liver would disagree." she said.

"I hate to break up this very interesting conversation," Quin broke in. "But we should get going. I just saw the crew board the Seawolf."

Indeed, it was a crew. Over the past hour, it seemed the newly instated captain of the Seawolf, along with his first mate, had recruited some men to work for him, about ten of them to be precise.

Jaelyn shifted uneasily as a sudden thought hit her.

"Um...maybe this isn't such a good idea." she said to Quin.

The halfling looked up at her, a brow creased. "What?"

"Well..." she faltered a moment in embarrassment and then pushed on. "If they find out what I am...I...they'll...I can't swim."

"What's this?" said Bishop, pouncing on the opportunity to tease her, like a lion on a slow, overweight gazelle. "She can take out a tavern of thieves and murderers, stand up on a dragon in mid-flight, but she can't swim?"

He laughed boisterously. That was one of the most amusing things he'd heard lately.

Jaelyn, on the other hand, failed to see the humor in it.

She punched him in the arm.

"Stop laughing, you jerk!"

He didn't.

The laugh was contagious, for Quin's mouth was suddenly twisting upward into a grin and he felt something irresistible stirring in his gut, though for the sake of his friend, he tried to hold it back. He failed.

A snicker followed by a snort drew Jaelyn's head around to Quin, who had his hand over his mouth in a failed attempt to hold his laughter in. It made his face go a curious shade of red and his body convulsed under the onslaught of muffled guffaws.

"Et tu, Quin?" she said, betrayed. "Et tu?"

Quin gave her a strange look. "What?

Jaelyn blinked. "I don't know. It sounded right. In any case, go on then and get the laughter out of your system. Both of you. Jerks."

There was silence, about two seconds of it, and then the laughter started again.

Jaelyn groaned.

On the Seawolf, several crewman looked up at the sound of terrible laughter, staring across the docks at two males, one of them tall and the other one appearing to be a child, standing with a female in a cloak and hood. The laughing was coming from the males; it was as if they had been told the world's funniest joke.

"It's not funny." Jaelyn said forcefully. "Just get over it already. If they find out what I am, they'll toss me in the middle of the friggin' ocean!"

Quin settled down, wiping tears of mirth from his cheeks. "Relax. They know."

Jaelyn stared at him in shock. "Th-They do?"

He nodded. "Part of the gold I payed the new captain was to forget about you being a drow. I figured something like that was bound to happen. I'm sure he warned all the other crew members."

Jaelyn scoffed bitterly. "Yeah, nice choice of wording there, Quin. Real nice."

The halfling shrugged, putting his hands up in a helpless gesture. "How else could I have put it?"

"They were informed, notified, let on, advised, filled in, told..."

"Enlightened." offered Bishop, helpfully.

"Oh, that's a good one." Jaelyn replied and then looked back down at Quin. "There, you see, even his small brain could come up with a word for it that wasn't insulting. Actually, it was quite impressive. That was a pretty big word for him."

Bishop glared at her. "Watch it."

"Oh, sorry. What's another word for impressive? Uh...oh, I know. How about striking? That's not too big for you, is it?"

"I'm warning you, girl." the ranger growled.

Jaelyn rolled her eyes. "Jeez, lighten up. You're such a hothead."

"Hey!" a rough call rang out across the docks. "You three there!"

The trio looked in the direction of the Seawolf. The captain was standing on the ship's prow, staring in their direction.

"You comin' or what?"

**xxxxxxxxxx**

The Seawolf sailed out across the blue expanse of ocean, the wind punching angrily into the white sails. The sea spanned eternal before them, the sun dropping diamonds across its rippling surface. The Seawolf's crewman went about the ship's length, doing important ship things, like mopping the deck and singing some old sailing ditty at the top of their lungs, or standing on the crow's nest, shielding their eyes from the sun and watching out for any treacherous obstacles that might wander into their path.

Quin, Jaelyn, and Bishop stood on the ship's stern deck, each of them holding a long, thin metal club with a bulbous end. There was a large bag of small white balls beside the halfling and a little square green mat made of turf laying on the deck in front of him. The mat had a single white, flat-headed peg sticking up from its center.

Quin bent and balanced one of the white balls on the peg.

"So, you see," he began to explain. "All you do is hit the ball off the peg with the club and see how far you can get it."

"Sounds pointless to me." said Bishop, his club resting on his shoulder. "What'd you say this game's called?"

"Golf." Quin replied. "Give it a shot. It's actually quite fun once you get into it."

"I can think of a more entertaining use for this club," the ranger replied with a grin. "Just stand still right there. Let's see how far I can knock a halfling across the ocean."

"Now," Quin said, sharply. "There's no need for that. If you don't want to play, that's fine."

Jaelyn leaned against her club, smirking at the ranger.

With the crew advised about her heritage, she now had the freedom to walk around without her hood over her head, and she basked in the sunlight. She had been told once by her dragon father that drows were hampered by sunlight, were weakened by it. Weilsung had said it was just another of the dark elves curses, as if the sun itself tried to force the drow to stay underground. Jaelyn, however, did not suffer this curse. The sun didn't bother her, except on particularly sweltering days, but that would bother just about anyone. Weilsung had told her it was destiny, that she was meant to be on the surface and not below it. Jaelyn didn't see it that way. She thought it was either her wood elf heritage taking over at that point, or more accureately, because she hadn't spend a good deal of her life in almost total darkness. She didn't care much for being part wood elf, either. This was mostly because it reminded her that she was part of what her mother was, one who had it in her to kill a child, her own flesh and blood on top of that. It made her sick sometimes to think about it, but she also realized that it was simply a part of who she was, like her drow heritage, and none of it could be helped.

In any case, since Jaelyn did not suffer that particular drow curse, she had abandoned her leather armor and cloak for a thin, white, short-sleeved tunic, which she'd cut off a bit at the bottom for more comfort, allowing a small amount of her midriff to show, and a matching skirt that reached just above her knees made of the same flimsy material. They both contrasted brilliantly with her slate-gray skin and left little to the imagination, at least to the imagination of those who could look at her without a sneer. She hadn't bothered with wearing any shoes, as she enjoyed the sun-warmed wood beneath her bare feet. Her wild, white hair was pulled back into a long pony tail, and yet it still seemed to defy gravity.

She could be considered stunning to those who saw past her heritage.

Bishop happened to be one of those people. The moment she had come up from the lower cabins, his jaw nearly hit the deck. Even Quin had been staring at her in shock.

"Whoa," he'd commented. "You look nice! If I was a few feet taller..."

Jaelyn had flushed. "Quin! I can't believe you said that!"

Bishop had yet to say anything, or to even move. He was struggling (and failing) to sort his thoughts in the right order and to expel the ones that were stirring up trouble. He was aware of his pounding heart and the fact that all that blood it was pumping was going south to another throbbing part of his anatomy and it seemed in quite a hurry to get there. If he couldn't stop it, he'd be in real trouble. There wasn't a cold shower or brothel within fifty miles of the Seawolf.

So, he'd simply cleared his rapidly drying throat and tore his gaze away.

Quin had seen the struggle and wisely chose that moment to suggest they learn this game of golf.

Bishop adored the little shit for doing that. But only a little.

But it seemed currently he was having trouble again. She was looking at him, half of her pretty face masked behind those long, thick white bangs and offering him a smirk. It was a sensuous look, even though he knew she hadn't meant it to be. Blood was traveling in the wrong direction again.

"For a man who flirts with death," she said. "You sure don't know how to loosen up and have some fun on a normal basis."

"I didn't say I didn't want to play." he replied, roughly. "I just said I didn't see the point."

"That's because you don't know how yet."

"What's there to know? You just hit the ball out to sea. Big deal."

"Well," Quin said. "There's a lot more to it than that. There's a certain stance you use and a technique for hitting the ball."

"And how do you know how far the ball travels? We have nothing to calculate the distance. " the ranger pointed out.

Quin shrugged. "Judge by eye, I guess."

"Oh, fine."

"Right." said Jaelyn. "So, come on, let's get to it. I'm eager to try this game out."

"Some game." Bishop added and was ignored.

"Okay, I'll go first then, to show you how it works." the halfling said.

Quin stood before the small green square and lined his small club(he'd gotten one specifically made for his short stature) to the ball with his feet close together. He swung the club back over his shoulder and then sliced it down toward the ball. There was a _sluck_ sound as the end of the club struck the ball and sent it out over the ocean where it plunked into the water.

He grinned at the other two. "See? Nothing to it. Now you try."

"This should be interesting." said Bishop with a smirk.

Jaelyn did not miss the slight sarcasm in his tone. She looked over at him with a glower as she placed herself in front of the green square and Quin bent to put a ball on the peg.

"Do shut up." she said.

His smile widened and something in her suddenly stirred at the sight of it. She was aware of some strange heat blossoming in her lower belly. After a moment, it intensified and traveled lower, where it seemed to pulse. She looked away, feeling her face heat up.

That feeling was foreign and alarming. She'd never felt anything quite like it and had no idea what it was, but when she glanced back at him again, catching him in the midst of staring at her in places he shouldn't have been looking, she felt that pulse down there quickening and suddenly, she just wanted to move toward him and...

Jaelyn's flush intensified and she swallowed hard. Her throat had gone dry. Never had she had thoughts like these, of doing things that Weilsung had always had trouble trying to explain to her. Mostly those conversations had started out like this: "You see, Jaelyn, there are times when your species get urges..." Then it all got confusing. Apparently, there was some kind of dance and then parts of the anatomy were supposed to come together. She'd never understood it.

The urge she had now had nothing to do with dancing, though it was a bit similar by the fact that what she felt was a desire to be close and to be touched. She had no such desire to move her feet and spin around in circles to music. Her head was spinning enough as it was. The urge seemed to be coming from her entire being. Every part of her, especially that throbbing part, ached for it and she began to have those exploratory musings.

_What would it be like if he touched me? What would it be like to touch him? Why are these thoughts here? Why do I feel this way? This is so confusing. I wonder how it would be to kiss him._

Oddly, she knew he was a rough kisser, a demanding kisser, and she had no idea how she knew this. It was just there, as if she'd known all along.(Though, she really didn't. She was simply recalling an experience she didn't know she'd had.)

Jaelyn felt a tug on her skirt. She looked down at Quin's face, which was full of inquiry.

"Did you have a nice trip?" he asked.

"Huh?"

"Well, you just seemed to float off there for a minute."

"Oh." She felt her face heat up again and she lowered her head to hide how it was darkening with a blush. "Uh..."

The ranger was staring at her as if trying to look inside her instead of at her. She, as well as those insides, squirmed under that searching look.

"Just daydreaming." she said quickly and looked away. She found that the ball at her feet was quite interesting. "So, I just hit it? Like this?"

She swung back recklessly in her desire to push the moment on. She could still feel those golden eyes, as if they were boring holes into her soul.

She smacked the ball with the end of the club. It made that _sluck_ sound, followed by a _thunt_, a _thock_, a _thump_, a _thud_, and a cry. Her ball had ricocheted off the side of the ship, hit one of the wooden masts, struck a crate and then bounced off the head of a passing crewman, who was now laying on the deck, groaning and holding a hand to the lump forming on his forehead. Several other crewman had gathered, looking down at the fallen man. One picked up a small white ball and looked up at the sky through eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"That's the longest ricochet I've ever witnessed." Quin said with his grin.

Jaelyn smiled sheepishly. "Sorry. Uh...oops?"

"No harm done." said the halfling. "You're new at this. It takes some practice."

"It's just hitting a ball with a stick." Bishop said. "You don't need practice."

Jaelyn risked a glance at him, her hands on her hips. "Oh, no? Let's see you do it then, Mr. Know-it-all."

He sniffed indignantly and placed himself before the green square and the empty peg. He looked over at Quin.

"Give me a ball, half-man."

Quin tossed it over, which the ranger caught and then bent to place it on the peg. He set the end of the club to the ball and then wondered for a moment why it didn't feel right.

Behind him, Jaelyn nudged Quin with her elbow, grinning. Quin stifled a laugh.

The drow sidled up next to Bishop and tapped him on the shoulder. He gave her an impatient look.

"What?"

"Pardon me," she said and reached out for his club. Her fingers curled around it and twisted it in a half-revolution. "You might have a better chance at hitting it if your club was facing the right way."

A bit of embarrassment crept up on him, but an inward glare sent it running. An outward glare was directed at the grinning drow.

"Just shut up."

Jaelyn spread her hands. "I wasn't going to say anything."

"You were."

"Not me."

She stood back out of the way.

Bishop lined the club up with the ball again and then swung back hard. Unfortunately, the club came right out of his hands and spun, whistling through the air, backwards across the deck. Jaelyn had just enough time to dive for the deck with a cry.

There was another cry from the bow side of the ship as the club struck, oddly enough, the same crewman, who would now be suffering a lump on the other side of his head and a short bout with amnesia.

Jaelyn rose her head in a slow, cautious manner and looked up at Bishop with a slight scowl.

He stared back, unpleasantly. "Shut up."

She arose to her feet, straightening her skirt. "That could've killed someone."

Quin was looking back to where the crewman was laying, surrounded by his shipmates. "This just isn't that poor man's day." He looked back at the ranger. "How did that even happen?"

Bishop shrugged. "It got away from me."

"I'll say." Jaelyn said with an amused smile. "We better quit before he sinks the ship."

"What part of 'shut up' don't you understand?"

She grinned. "The shut part."

He stepped toward her, threateningly. "Then perhaps you need a lesson."

"When I want to learn how to hurl golf clubs into space, I'll let you know."

She danced away from his hands as they shot out at her, spun around in a flurry of white skirt, and smirked. "Nice try."

"You'll have to sleep sometime."

"You're right, but I'm a light sleeper."

The sound of clomping boots across the deck interrupted them. The trio turned to see the captain approaching them with a slight scowl on his face.

"Look," he said when he reached them. "I'm grateful n' all that you named me captain of this ship and paid me a lot of gold for it, but if you don't quit this odd game you're playing, you're going to kill off my crewmen. You got poor ol' Samuel confused, can't seem to remember his name or where he's at. So, just quit it, all right?"

"Sorry, Dalris." said Quin. "I was just teaching these two how to play golf."

Dalis quirked a brow. "Golf? Never heard of it. Whatever it is, just stop it, right?"

Quin sighed. "All right, all right. Just when it was getting interesting, too. Well, I suppose there'll be time to play once we get to this island."

Jaelyn turned and faced the captain. "When do you expect us to arrive at this island?"

Captain Dalris shifted uneasily and scowled at her addressing him. Apparently, even legendary pirates were not partial to the drow.

"Depends. If the weather's good, it should take at least a tenday."

"A tenday?" Jaelyn replied in shock. "A whole tenday?"

The captain gave a curt nod.

"Ugh."

Quin patted her on the back. "Don't worry. It'll be over before you know it."

Somehow, she doubted that.

**xxxxxxxxxx**

As night fell, a thick fog rolled across the sea and in the distance, dark, ominous clouds billowed, lightning streaking through them in bright, blue flashes. Thunder, sounding like a far away drum, rumbled behind it. The Seawolf was sailing into a storm.

Jaelyn stood on the prow, staring down at the nose of the ship as it sliced through the dark, ominous water. It was rather quiet, she noted. There was only the sound of the water as it splashed up against the ship's sides.

All the crewmen had gone below deck for dinner. Jaelyn had thought it wise to wait until they were done to have her own. She highly doubted they'd want to share a meal with her. She was lucky she hadn't been thrown off the ship yet.

After the golf experience with Quin, the trio had taken to walking the ship's deck to pass the time, and every crewman they passed had offered Quin a pleasant hello, had nodded to Bishop in acknowledgment, and given her the evil eye. If looks could kill, she would have died ten times over(it would have been twelve if the captain and his navigator had been on deck).

As the day progressed and breached night, she kept getting a strange feeling that she was being watched, and although every one on the ship was eyeing her with some degree of malice, this feeling of being watched was quite different than that. It was as if someone was watching her from the shadows, yet when she sought out those shadows, no one was there. She didn't like this feeling. It made her neck hairs rigid.

She couldn't stand it. She felt exposed.

Jaelyn had escaped down into the cabin, changed back into her leather armor and cloak despite her desire not to, and then returned back to the deck, her hood pulled over her head.

So much for freedom.

Now, as she stood at the prow, leaning against the railing on her elbow, she was depressed. All she wanted was to be herself, to walk among people without having to hide behind her hood.

"Jae?"

She straightened and looked over her shoulder to see Quin standing there in all his shortness, that happy grin plastered on his face.

The wind blew through his short blond hair and rippled at the hem of his cloak. Despite that grin, there was a glimmer of concern in his blue eyes.

"You going to join us?"

Jaelyn offered him a small, forced smile. "No, I'll wait until they clear out, then I'll be down."

"Come on, Jae." Quin replied. "It's fine."

She sighed. "No, it's not. You know that."

"You can't avoid them forever."

"I don't have a choice, Quin."

"Yes, you do." he said. "You can walk down there, sit with them, and eat. If they don't like it, to the hells with them."

"Oh, you make it sound so godsdamned simple." she snapped. "The fact is you don't know what it's like being run off, sneered at, hated for something you have no control over. It isn't simple, Quin. I can't just walk in there and shrug off all their hateful looks."

"Have you ever tried?" Quin asked.

She faltered. No, she had never tried before. She just ran away. It was safer that way.

"It doesn't matt-"

"Then you don't know for sure." Quin cut her off. "Come down with us, Jae. It's not right without you being there."

"No."

"Please? If you don't, I'll die of boredom. Do you want me to die, Jae?"

She shook her head. "You won't die. Quit being overdramatic."

"I'm not. It's true." Quin said. "Why do you think I came up here in the first place? It's so boring down there, I couldn't even finish my meal. I lost my appetite."

"Now you're just being silly."

"And anyway, there's a little bit of a dice game going on. A lot of people are making gold off of that ranger." the halfling said with a grin. "You know, I figured him for a darts man, but he really knows how to roll those bones. So, what do you say?"

Jaelyn sighed and gave in, mostly for Quin's sake and so he'd quit begging.

They went below deck, followed the short wooden corridor to its end and came to the cargo area of the ship, which, under Captain Dalris' command, had been turned into a tavern like room. There were numerous tables and chairs set around the room and a long, wooden bar at the back wall, where a few of the crewmen were sitting having a tankard. At the far left corner of the room, the rest of the crewmen stood around a table, engaged in boisterous carousal. There was a cacophony of drunken laughter and vulgar language, the usual sounds accompanying men, alcohol and gambling when they all found each other together in one place.

"Seven!" came a victorious cry from the depths of the rowdy, assembled men. "Hells, yes! Roll again, lad!"

There were a few groans following this as a couple of men lost a good deal of their gold by betting on the wrong outcome.

Jaelyn looked down at Quin, who grinned and said "That's been going on for two hours now. Some men have lost their life savings, others have made more gold than they might have in a month working as a dockhand."

They moved into the room and made their way over to the bar. Jaelyn took a seat on a stool, Quin grabbing the one next to her.

The two men at the bar looked in her direction with scowls on their face. They immediately got off their stools and went to join the dice game. The crewmen serving as a bartender looked up at her from behind the counter, a sneer on his face.

"What'd ya want?" he said, not bothering to hide his disdain.

Jaelyn inwardly sighed.

Sensibility rose up and gave her a reassuring pat on the back.

_Just let it go._

"A drink." she replied.

"Oh, yeah?" he snapped. "Well, you want it, you get it yourself. I ain't serving you."

"Fine. Give me a tankard and I'll get it myself."

The man reached under the bar, grabbed an empty tankard and slammed it on the bar in front of her. When she reached for it, he pushed it off onto the floor, where it clanked loud enough to cut through the drunken carousing in the corner.

Jaelyn was suddenly aware of eyes on her, thirteen pairs of them to be exact (the navigator would have made fourteen if he wasn't presently too busy steering the ship to come down for a game of dice, a drink, and to glare at her) and she was almost certain that her skin was trying to crawl off of her bones in an attempt to escape those menacing looks.

She tried her best to ignore them. She shifted with unease on her stool and cleared her throat.

Quin, however, was glaring at the crewman-turned-barkeep.

"Hey, now," he reprimanded. "There was no need to do that."

The barkeep looked at him. "I'll do whatever I damn well please and I'll serve whomever I damn well please. Don't like it, you know where the deck is."

Quin climbed up into his stool, filled with anger, and leaned across the bar toward the man. "Now, listen here, you-"

The man grabbed the halfling by the front of his leather tunic and lifted him up off the bar. "Think you're tough, do you, pickin' fights with people that could squash you like a bug? I'll teach you."

The barkeep shoved Quin back over the bar and the halfling landed hard on the ground near Jaelyn and remained motionless.

Jaelyn's head snapped up, rage filling her, and set furious, narrowed eyes on the barkeep, who blanched. He held his ground despite the look she was giving him, probably in an effort to save face in front of his mates.

The _shink_ sound of a dagger leaving its sheath broke through the silence and the barkeep suddenly found himself staring cross-eyed down the pointy end of a knife, which was within an inch of putting out an eye. There was a drow glaring behind it at the hilt.

"You will pay for that."

A grin spread over the barkeep's face, leaving her confused for a moment as to why it had appeared in the first place, given the situation, but then she noticed the gathering of angry men behind her, reflected in the barkeep's eyes.

There was a united _shing_ as several swords were drawn in unison.

"I suggest you put that away, you filthy drow." said the barkeep, smugly.

Her face contorted, grew tighter at the insult. "Filthy? Compared to some grimy sailor who smells like the inside of a year old fish crate?"

Laying on the floor a few feet away, Quin groaned, but still did not move.

In the far corner of the room, the ranger leaned back in his chair, letting a single die play across his knuckles as he watched the incident with a smirk. He was quite curious as to how this was going to play out. The drow had taken on a number of barflies at the Golden Apple, whose patrons were known for their bad, violent reputations. He wondered how much trouble she'd have taking care of a group of sailors and ex-pirates. Besides, he liked watching her fight. She fought dirty.

The barkeep laughed. "Just go jump off the ship, drow. You'll be doing this world-and yourself-a big favor."

"I'd be doing this world a favor by getting rid of bigots like you." she retorted in a growl. She spun around and faced the mob of angry men behind her. "And that goes for the rest of you as well. Where do you get off judging me? You don't even know me."

"No, but we know your kind." someone in the mob said.

"So what? Just because I'm drow doesn't mean I'm like them. And in fact, I'm only half-drow" she said. "I happen to be a good person as well if any of you would even bother to get to know me."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." said the barkeep, rolling his eyes. "All your kind thinks that when they come up here and burn our villages, kill our children and rape our women. They think what they're doin' is right. Your kind belongs under the surface, deep under it, and so do you. Don't matter if you're all drow, half, or what. It's still in your blood."

"Yeah!" came a call from the crowd. "Go back to the Underdark, drow!"

"Yeah!"

"Let's throw her off the ship!" someone suggested.

From his corner, Bishop frowned in irritation and disappointment. He saw the look of slight fear on the drow's face, mixed in with a little contempt. She wasn't going to fight. It was probably for the best. She was greatly outnumbered. Even if she could have taken them all on at once, it was likely she'd be thrown off the ship by the captain afterward. They were already looking for an excuse to do so. Not that he cared, mind you, but chances were if they threw her over board, he and the halfling would soon follow.

Jaelyn looked upon each face surrounding her and wisely decided to let it go. It wouldn't do to fight them, mostly because it would likely get her tossed into the middle of the ocean by the captain and would only help to prove their point about the drow.

To their ultimate surprise, she sheathed her dagger and gave them a furious, seething look. "This is not worth it. Think what you like about me, but I know the truth. I know who I am and who I am not, and I am not a pillager, a killer, or a rapist. I am Jaelyn Sharpshadow, a decent person."

With that said, she stormed out of what the crewmen referred to as the Seawolf's common room, stomped down the hall, and climbed the stairs to the deck.

Someone was following her.

Jaelyn strode over to the cargo crates where Quin had put their golf clubs earlier, grabbed one and then lifted the bag of balls.

She remembered Quin saying that golf was good for stress. Well, she was about to find out if that was true or not.

The little green mat was still where they'd left it. Jaelyn bent and put a ball on the little white peg sticking out of it. She lined up the club, drew it back and then whacked the hells out of the ball.

It was a white blur as it left the green mat and plunked far out to sea.

It felt good.

She placed another ball on the peg, pictured it as a small version of the barkeep's face and then whacked it. It sailed out across the sky until she lost sight of it.

The anger in her did not wane.

She sent dozens of those little white balls out to sea, until her rage built into a crescendo, then, breathing heavily and unable to see straight, she abandoned whacking those balls for the deck's wooden railing. She bashed her club against it over and over until the wood began to split, screaming as loud as she could, all in an effort to vent her rage.

Her arms grew numb and tired, so she finally stopped abusing the wooden railing and looked down at her bent club in wonder. Had she really done that?

"Do you always let people get to you like this?" came a rough voice from behind her.

Startled, she spun and launched her club in the direction of the voice, thinking someone had come to attack her.

Bishop barely had enough time to duck to avoid being brained with the sporting equipment. The club sailed right over his head and struck the wood pillar behind him, rebounded off of it at an angle and then went out to sea. Quin was going to be angry about that.

The ranger glared at her. "What the hells?"

Jaelyn, hands on her hips, glowered at him. "Well, you shouldn't be sneaking up on people like that, especially not me."

Then she had a moment to wonder how long he'd been there. Had he seen her act of venting?

Her face grew hot and she turned away, leaning on the railing.

A minute later, she heard his soft steps across the deck, heading right for her. He stopped beside her, eyed the damaged wood with a risen brow and a slight smirk, and then leaned on it.

"What did this ship ever do to you?"

Jaelyn couldn't help but look at him. It was the first real joke he'd ever made, and she couldn't help her smile either, despite the night's events.

"Why do you always have to show up during my weakest moments?"

He shrugged. "It's not intentional, trust me. Maybe you just have too many weak moments. Like I said before, do you always let people get to you like that? You're only letting them win."

She looked gloomily into the dark water under them. "They're always going to win."

"Not if you don't let them."

Jaelyn sighed loudly and straightened up from the railing, looking at him from behind her hood with a scowl.

"It's not like I even have a chance to win when the whole world is against me." she replied and then scoffed, waving a dismissive hand at him. "What would you know about it, anyway?"

"More than you think." he snapped. "A lot more."

"Right." she scoffed, rolling her eyes. "Like down there in the common room with you surrounded by all those men, cheering you on? That's the world against you, is it? Give me a break!"

Bishop laughed. "You think you know all there is to know about me just by watching me play dice with a bunch of drunks?"

"I didn't say-"

"You insinuated it."

"'Yeah, but you weren't-"

"So, aren't you being a hypocrite?"

"What?" she demanded angrily.

"You made an assumption about me just then." he said. "Isn't that what people do to you?"

Jaelyn stared at him, opened her mouth to say something, and then closed it again. She looked down at the water, frowning.

"Fine." she conceded. "Maybe I did. I take it back, then. You say you know what it's like to have the world against you, then how do you go about winning?"

"For one thing," he said. "Stop hiding behind that hood."

To her surprise, he reached over and yanked the hood back. Her white hair practically illuminated the night and it blew around her and got in her dark face.

"Stop being so damn afraid to show yourself." he went on in a stern manner, as if he were scolding her. Maybe he was. "If they don't want to see you, then you show them anyway. Go put on that little white outfit you seem to like so much. Hells, run around naked. That'd show them. And it'd give me something to look at, instead of all this godsforsaken water."

Jaelyn laughed.

"And when they threaten you," he continued, seriously. "Don't run away. Fight back. If they're going to hate you anyway, give them a reason to. 'Least that's what I say."

She eyed him. "You wouldn't be trying to get me to fight needlessly, would you?"

He shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. All I'm saying is, you let them win every time you run away and every time you turn the other cheek. They are never going to accept you."

She nodded. "I know."

They both glanced down into the water again in silence.

The night trudged on and the trio found themselves in the privacy of their own cabin room, courtesy of Captain Dalris, who found it both necessary for the drow and complimentary for Quin's payment of him and his crew.

The room was adequate and spacious, with three wood-framed beds with hard mattresses and separate chamber pots, which was better than most ship accommodations, where bathroom experiences consisted of sticking one's backside over the side of the ship and letting nature take its course.

Jaelyn had foolishly chosen the bed in the middle and as she sat on it, she noticed that the chamber pots for the other two beds were both sitting on the sides near her bed.

Bishop caught her reluctant look and grinned. "Too late now."

"Jerk." she muttered. "You could move it, you know."

He rolled his eyes, stepped over to the right side of his bed and kicked the chamber pot across the room.

"Better, your majesty?"

"Much." she replied and then looked over at Quin expectantly.

Quince nodded at the look and picked up his chamber pot to move it on the other side of the bed. Jaelyn put hers at the foot of her bed, not that she planned on using it in any case, at least not with two males in the same room. If she had to go in the middle of the night, then she was going to wake them both and send them out until she was done. A girl needs her bathroom privacy.

Quin was sitting on the end of his bed, pulling his boots off. Jaelyn stood up and rummaged through her pack for her chemise, found it, and then began undoing the lacings and buttons on her tunic until she realized what she was doing. She glanced up, caught the ranger staring and glowered at the sight of his smirk.

"Well, go on." he urged. "No sense in stopping now, not when it's just getting good."

"Turn around, you pervert."

"Don't be like that."

"Turn around." she said more firmly.

He growled in protest. "Fine. Go on and ruin my fun."

She glanced over her shoulder. "You too, Quin."

The halfling laughed and spun around. "Let us know when you're done."

Jaelyn undressed as quick as possible, stripping down to bare skin and then quickly threw on her white chemise. She was oblivious to the fact that there was a silver plaque hanging on the wall to the left of the ranger's chosen bed and that he had been watching her distorted reflection through it the entire time.

Before she could open her mouth to tell them that she was done, Bishop turned around, a wide, sly smile on his face and began unlacing his own tunic.

"Okay, I'm done."

"Finally." said Quin.

While the two males were getting undressed for bed, Jaelyn padded softly across the floor to the port hole, pulled up a small chest that came with the room so she could stand on it and look out.

She noted that the fog was thicker now and that the water was becoming a bit more choppy. She could even see that the flashes of lightning were becoming more frequent. The storm was getting closer.

"Ah!" came a cry from behind her. "Gods, man."

Jaelyn spun around and her eyes grew wide. She squeaked, threw her hands over her eyes, and her Inner Virgin fainted.

"I did not need to see that!" she cried as she felt her cheeks grow hot.

The moment she'd turned, she saw the ranger standing there as naked as the day he was born.

"What?" he replied, innocently.

"You're naked!" Jaelyn cried, hands still over her eyes.

"So what?"

"Put on some clothes, man!" Quin said, hands over his eyes as well.

"Not going to happen." Bishop replied. "I sleep bare-ass. Don't like it? Go sleep on the deck."

"Gods." Jaelyn groaned and turned around. "Well, tell me when you're covered."

"Don't tell me you've never seen someone naked before." he said, teasing her. "You've missed out, being raised by dragons. Why don't you turn around, little drow, and get a good look at a real man?"

"No, thank you!"

"You'll have to look at one someday."

"It won't be this day."

Quin laughed. "Alright, come on, Bishop. Quit teasing her."

But he wasn't teasing her. He was torturing her and he wasn't stopping. He was thoroughly enjoying every minute she squirmed and flushed.

Jaelyn sensed him moving toward her from across the room and stopping close behind her, so close that she could feel the heat of his skin. Her entire body went rigid and she didn't dare turn around.

"Stop it." she said, her voice sounding weak and constrained.

"Stop what?"

She felt his hand, warm on the back of her neck, his knuckles caressing over it, which made a ripple of goosebumps break out across her skin.

"Bishop," Quin said, anxiously. "Look, that's eno-"

"Shut up, halfling."

Quin's mouth snapped shut at the hard, no-nonsense sound of the man's voice.

Jaelyn's breath stopped cold in her throat when she felt the ranger's chest against her back and his stubble-roughened cheek against her neck.

"Nervous, are we?" Bishop whispered into her ear and she did not mistake the humor she heard in his voice, nor did she care for it.

So, that's the game he was playing, was it?

"No, uncomfortable." she snapped and threw her bony elbow back into his stomach, forcing a gush of air out of him and making him back up from her.

Jaelyn spun around him and stomped over to her bed. She yanked the sheets back, got into bed and pulled them back over her head.

Glaring at the drow and rubbing his stomach, Bishop strode back to his bed. He shifted his gaze to Quin.

"The lantern, halfling. " he said roughly. "Put it out."

**xxxxxxxxxx**

Jaelyn had no idea how long she'd been asleep, but it was the sound of a creak in the room that had awoken her.

She did not at first open her eyes, straining her ears for the sound again and where exactly it was coming from. She could hear thunder outside and the sound of rain, but there had been a...

_Creak._

There it was again.

_Creak._

It was closer.

_Thump._

Someone was in the room.

Jaelyn's breath held when she felt the edge of her bed sag.

Her eyes snapped open and when she tried to arise, a hand clamped down over her mouth and she was pinned to the bed by someone's body weight.

She could barely make out the person's face; menacing eyes, a dark beard, and long hair was all she could see.

Jaelyn struggled under the man's weight. His knees were pinning her arms down to her sides and he was sitting on her stomach. Then, a moment later, she felt cold steel against her throat.

She made a sound, a small whimper and started struggling against him again.

The man leaned down close. "Shhh. It'll all be over soon."

Jaelyn's eyes narrowed and she tried to open her mouth to bite him. Unfortunately, his hand squeezed painfully against her mouth to keep her from doing so.

"You're getting what you deserve." he hissed at her. "What all your kind deserves."

She mumbled something against his hand.

The man's brows furrowed. "What? The little drow bitch has something to say?"

She said it again, slowly.

If anyone else had been in the room, what they might have heard was something that sounded like "Ffffnnnk ooo". The man knew exactly what she'd said. He sneered at her.

"The bitch's got a mouth on her. I guess I'll have to cut those nasty lips off, then I'll slice open your throat."

She felt the knife press deep, cutting into her skin and she couldn't stifle her scream, which was muffled. She then tried to buck him off of her, but he pressed more of his weight against and she now found that she could not move at all.

A bit of fear trickled in, but Survival Instinct met Fear head-on at the gates to her consciousness. It struck without hesitation. And so did she. At least, she struck with her entire body. She wiggled, squirmed and bucked beneath him wildly, unwilling to let him win.

Fight back, Bishop had told her. And she was fighting now, as hard as humanly-or demi-humanly-possible.

To her right, Quin was sound asleep, snoring like he always does. To her left, the ranger was also deep in the land of Nod.

Tears of anger, fear and defiance rolled down her cheeks, burned and blurred her eyes. The man slid his knife across her throat, drawing a painful but shallow line in her flesh.

"That's just to start." he said. "I'll give you a few of these painful cuts, torture cuts they call them. And then it'll be the real cut, see, the one to end your miserable life."

She mumbled something, a question.

"Why? I'll tell you why." he replied roughly. "Your bloody kind murdered my family. Now I'm gonna murder one of you. I don't care if you had nothin' to do with it or not. You're still one of them. Now you're gonna die."

"No," came a dead-panned voice from behind him. "You are."

The man had a moment to turn his head and then a knife went into the back of his neck.

He gurgled, tried to reach for the knife and then slumped forward on top of Jaelyn, who let out a small cry and tried to shove the dead man off of her.

Jaelyn sat there a moment, staring at the man laying half on and half off of her bed, leaking blood all over her sheets. She was breathing heavily with both fear and the overall adrenaline rush of a near death experience. She finally looked up to see Bishop standing there, a bloody knife in one hand while the other held the bed linen around his waist. He was glaring in fury at the dead man.

"Who was this fool?" he growled.

Jaelyn shot up from her bed, shaking her head. "I-I don't know. He tried to kill me!"

"Calm down." he said, irritated.

"Calm down?" she cried and grabbed him by his shoulders to give him a shake. "He tried to kill me!"

She turned away to look at the man as a sudden thought hit her like a ton of bricks.

"What're we going to do with the body?" she asked. "If anyone finds it, they'll certainly blame me for it and then I'll be made to walk the plank. They still do that nowadays, don't they? Make people walk the plank, I mean."

"I don't know." Bishop replied dismissively. "Come on, we'll dump him overboard."

He tucked the bed linen secure at his waist, tossed his knife on his bed and then grabbed the man's legs. Jaelyn moved over to help, pulling on an arm to move the dead man over on his back.

Bishop pointed. "The sheets."

Jaelyn nodded, understanding immediately. Wouldn't do to have bloody sheets lying around. They'd have to take them, too.

After much positioning of the corpse, they were finally able to wrap the dead man in the sheet. Jaelyn hurried to the door, opened it and peered into the darkened corridor to make sure no one was around. Then she hurried back and grabbed one end of the sheet.

"Let's go."

Together, they hauled the man out of their room and up the stairs to the deck, where it was raining in a very violent manner.

"Great." Jaelyn groused. "It's always something."

"Just keep moving." Bishop said through clenched teeth.

They moved across the deck, the rain drenching the sheet and corpse, as well as themselves. Jaelyn's hands slipped and the body hit the deck head-first with a sickening crunch. Jaelyn winced and Bishop rolled his eyes.

She offered him a sheepish smile. "Oops."

They lifted the corpse once again and carried it over to the railing and then sat it down to take a break. They were both already drenched from the rain and Jaelyn tried desperately to ignore the fact that the water had made his sheet see-through, while Bishop deliberately stared at the fact that the rain had done the same to her chemise. He'd thought she was pretty flat chested before, but he saw now that what they lacked when they were covered, they made up for on display.

"Hey!"

He looked at her, distracted. "Hmm?"

"I said let's get this guy overboard."

"Right."

They heaved him up onto the railing, paused to give their muscles a minute to strengthen and then shoved him off. They both watched him drift away from the ship and then sink.

A moment later, Jaelyn touched her neck where the man had cut her, brought her fingers back and frowned at the blood there. She then looked at Bishop curiously.

"You saved my life."

A bewildered and somewhat shocked look came over his visage. "I did, didn't I? Ah well. We all make mistakes."

She punched him in the arm and then smiled. "Thanks."

He shrugged. "I didn't do it for you. Stabbing is just a habit of mine. Besides, he would've done me in next if I'd let him live."

She smiled again and then looked out at sea to where the man had sunk at. A frown suddenly replaced the smile.

"They're going to notice one of the crewman missing, you know." she said and glanced at him. "What're we going to do about that?"

He gave her a knowing look and then shrugged again. "What crewman?"

Jaelyn grinned.


	4. Chapter 4: Pirates? Indeed

**xxxxxx**

* * *

**Chapter Four:**

**Pirates? Indeed**

**xxxxxx**

**When** Jaelyn arose the following morning, she found the room empty of her companions.

A glance out of the port hole told her that it was well past morning and it was still storming.

The boat was rocking quite violently over the waves and Jaelyn could hear the faint pattering of busy feet above deck. The crewmen probably had their hands full with keeping the ship afloat. Storms like these were usually hovering over the sea with the only intention of sinking ships captained by men too bold and full of sailor's pride to turn back.

Jaelyn had a difficult time trying to get dressed. The ship's constant rocking made standing almost impossible and every time she tried to pull her trousers on, she fell over. After six tries and a bruised elbow, she was finally able to get both her legs in her trousers. Once they were buckled in place, she stumbled around for her boots, which were separated in two different directions. One had found its way near the door to the cabin and the other had fled under Bishop's bed.

When she pulled the one out from under the bed, the ship rocked backwards and she went flying over it, landing sprawled out on the floor, a boot having effectively smacked her right in the face.

"Ow." said Jaelyn.

She got up, rubbing her face, sat on the end of the bed and pulled her boots on. Hopefully the rubber soles would provide some kind of traction.

She stood from the bed and headed out, using the walls to keep her balance.

When she reached the deck, she knew she should have just slept in this morning.

Crewmen were rushing across the deck, trying to keep the sails tied down. Some of them were dumping buckets of water over the railings and then bending back down to scoop it up from the deck again. Others were tying the cargo down with rope and ultimately failing at it. Water sloshed down the steps into the cabin area where Jaelyn stood, staring with wide eyes at the chaos before her. She spotted Quin hanging on for dear life to one of the ship's masts. Another glance around and she found the ranger leaning over the side of the ship's railing, but she couldn't tell what he was doing.

She went out on the deck as the ship dipped down a wave and she slid across it toward Quin, grabbing hold of the mast to balance herself.

"Bad storm, eh?" she called over the raging wind.

Quin looked up at her fearfully. "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea."

Jaelyn slapped him on the back with a laugh. "Don't worry. It's just a little sea storm."

"Little?"

She shrugged. "It'll pass. Why don't you go below deck where it's safe, leave the ship stuff to the crew, huh?"

"Good idea." Quin replied. "I would if I wasn't afraid of going overboard. This ship's going to overturn, I just know it!"

"No, it's not, Quin." she replied. "The waves are too small to overturn it. And look," she pointed at the clouds dissipating on the horizon. "It's almost over now."

"Give me a hand, will you?"

Jaelyn nodded and did exactly that, taking his small hand in hers. She aided in getting him over to the stairs that led down to the cabins, which wasn't easy because the deck was like standing on a wet see-saw with two crazed children at its ends.

When Quin was safely below deck, Jaelyn turned and stumbled her way over to investigate what Bishop was doing.

As it turned out, he was being quite ill over the side of the ship and in a violent manner.

Jaelyn grabbed hold of the railing next to him and put a tentative hand on his shoulder.

"Are you all right?"

"It won't...stop." he groaned and heaved.

When he was finished expelling last night's dinner, Jaelyn said "Why don't you go below deck? It's not as bad down there."

"Ugh..."

Jaelyn smiled. The smile then turned into a grin and then the grin turned into a laugh.

"I thought you said you didn't get seasick?" she teased, mercilessly.

He groaned again. "If this passes, I'm going to kill you for that-irk!"

Jaelyn grimaced and patted his back. "There, there. Come on, let's get you down into the cabin."

"Go away." he growled.

Jaelyn stood back and held tight to the railing. "What? You'd rather stay here, then?"

Bishop considered this...for about half a second.

"Hells no."

"Well, come on, then." she said and grabbed his arm.

The ranger pulled back from the railing, his hands clenching the wood so tight that his knuckles went white, and then took in a deep shuddering breath to calm his roiling stomach. He then coughed hard, cleared his throat, and spit over the side.

"Yeah, okay."

Jaelyn finally got a look at him. He'd definitely seen better days. His face was pale with a slight green tint to it, his hair was flattened by the rain and stuck to his forehead and neck, but that wasn't that bad, and in fact, she liked the way the rain made his auburn hair a darker shade of red. It looked almost maroon. It was the spot of vomit on his chin that she couldn't stop staring at.

She grimaced and took his arm again.

She led him toward the stairs that went below deck, but he paused, a look of discomfort and anxiety on his face.

"Ugh, gods...not again."

Jaelyn turned back to see him leaning over beside her as if he were going to be sick again. She moved away.

"Dear, gods. Please, don't do that in front of me." she pleaded. "The sight of vomit makes me want to vomit."

He breathed heavily, trying to fight off the urge to heave, and turned his head while still leaning over to look at her. "Is it possible to puke out your stomach? 'Cause I think I'm about to find out."

"Do I need to get you over to the railing again?"

Bishop didn't say anything as he took in another breath, cleared his throat, and tried to straighten up. "No...no, I think it passed."

Jaelyn sighed in relief. "Good."

The ranger wasn't as certain as he had thought. He went a curious shade of green and the urge could not be fought off. He stumbled to the railing, leaned over it, and gagged.

Jaelyn sighed and shook her head. Well, at least he didn't throw up on her boots. That was a plus. She didn't exactly enjoy seeing him this way, though that probably had a lot to do with the fact that she didn't enjoy seeing anyone throw up. Still, maybe some part of her actually felt sorry for _him_.

It was about fifteen minutes later when she was finally able to get the ranger away from the railing and down into the cabins. She helped him to their room and he said nothing as he flopped down onto his bed and moaned into his pillow.

Jaelyn left him there and went down the corridor to the common room, where Quin was having a tankard. Jaelyn knew something that might help the ranger's upset stomach. She had read somewhere once that a bit of warmed brandy would take care of it.

She proceeded behind the bar, searched under it and in cabinets for a bottle of brandy while Quin watched her closely. She smiled when she found it and brought it out to sit it on the counter.

"Brandy?" Quin inquired, looking at the bottle with an incredulous expression. "I thought you said you were done with heavy alcohol."

"It's not for me." she replied, pulling out a shot glass and then rummaging through a drawer for some matches.

She went to one of the many vacant tables and grabbed a half melted candle off of it, taking it back to the bar.

"Then who?" Quin continued, watching her light the candle and then open the bottle of brandy.

"Bishop."

"What his problem? He could've gotten his drink himself."

"He isn't feeling very well, if you haven't noticed."

"So, you're playing nurse for him? I bet he's enjoying that." Quin said with a grin.

Jaelyn lifted a brow. "No, I'm not playing nurse. I just heard that warm brandy is good for an upset stomach. So, maybe it'll make him feel better."

"A nice gesture for someone who's been nothing but cruel to you." Quin pointed out. "Why are you even bothering?"

Jaelyn considered the question and wasn't really surprised by the answer she received. After all, she knew what she'd felt; she just felt sorry for him. Besides, she owed something to him for saving her life last night, but she wasn't going to bring that up with Quin. It was better if he didn't know. The halfling liked to talk too much and she and the ranger had gone through a lot of trouble to make sure no one found out about what had happened, that they were both responsible for the death of one of the crewmen.

"I don't know," she finally said. "I just feel sorry for him, I guess."

"Are you sure that's all it is?" Quin asked, eyeing her shrewdly.

Jaelyn gave him a puzzled look. "Yeah, what else is there?"

The halfling grinned. "I don't know. I get the feeling that you like him."

Jaelyn mulled that over and then shrugged. "He's all right, I guess, when he's not being a major ass."

"I didn't mean like that, Jae."

"Huh?"

"You _like_ him."

She stared at him, blankly.

Quin sighed. "What I'm saying is you like him more than just a friend."

Her pale green eyes bugged out and then she laughed hysterically. "Oh, no, no ,no, no. Definitely, one-hundred percent not. No. Never."

Quin looked at her. She looked back and smiled inanely.

"Absolutely not. How can you even think that?" she went on, nervously. "No. He's...no, I don't like him. Nope. No. I mean, I barely know him. In fact, I know nothing about him at all. So, the answer is no...No!"

Quin kept staring at her. "Jaelyn..."

She cracked.

"All right!" she cried, slamming her fists on the counter-top. "All right, damn you! Maybe I do, but just a little, and I swear by every god in existence, if you tell him, Quince Bramblebrow, I will toss you off this ship!"

Quin laughed. "All right, my lips are sealed. Honestly, I don't know what you see in him, anyway."

Jaelyn gave him a puzzled look. "Honestly, neither do I. He's...He's just the first man to never out-right shun me. Well, besides you. That's probably it."

She poured a bit of brandy into the glass, distractedly and then held it over the lit candle to warm it.

"I thought you did; like him, I mean." Quin said. "I've been noticing the way you look at him."

"I do not!" she cried defensively, almost upsetting the glass in her hand.

"You don't what?"

"Er...look at him. Do I?"

Quin nodded. "Yeah, pretty much."

"How do I look at him?" she demanded in a panic. "I'm going to have to stop."

"I don't know. You just look interested in him, I guess." he replied. "He looks at you, too, you know."

The shot glass slipped out of her hand and crashed on the counter. "Damn!"

Jaelyn quickly wiped up the glass and spilled brandy with the rag under the bar and then brought up a new shot glass. Her hand was trembling.

"Jae..." Quin said, noticing this. "Calm down. There's no need in getting worked up."

"Worked up?" she replied, her voice nearing a shriek. "Who's getting worked up? Not me. Certainly not! You said..." she swallowed hard. "He...looks at me? How?"

Quin shrugged. "I guess like he's studying you or something. I can't explain. I don't understand him, anyway."

Jaelyn took a breath to calm her insides and then scoffed. "You're not the only one."

She filled one-fourth of the shot glass with brandy and then held it over the candle flame again.

"You know, I think he might actually-" Quin began.

Jaelyn shot a hand up. "No more, Quin. I don't want to hear anymore or you're going to make me drop this glass again."

"Oh, very well. It's probably for the best, anyway." said the halfling, sipping at the rim of his tankard. "He's someone I wouldn't put a lot of trust in."

Jaelyn only nodded, testing the temperature of the brandy, and then moved from behind the bar. "Well, I'll just go give him this, then."

She left Quin in the common room and then returned to their cabin where she found the ranger in the same spot, except now he was lying on his back with an arm slung over his face.

Jaelyn sat next to him and put the shot glass on the bedside table. She reached out hesitantly and laid her hand on his arm.

His response was to jerk violently and look up at her in surprise that quickly faded into a grimace, as if he tasted something nasty in his mouth. No doubt it was last night's dinner and maybe a few others as well.

"Urgh..."

He squeezed his eyes shut.

Jaelyn smiled and touched his forehead, wondering if he might have a fever, though she doubted there would be if it was only seasickness. Maybe she just wanted to touch him. His skin was smooth, warm, and slightly damp from the rain. His gold eyes blinked open and stared straight into her pale green ones.

She cleared her throat and reached for the glass on the table beside the bed, but his fingers curled around her wrist, stopping her. When she looked back down at him again, there was a mean look on his face.

"What're you doing?" His voice carried an unpleasant, demanding tone.

Jaelyn frowned, unsure where this sudden bad attitude toward her was coming from. "What?"

"You heard me. What in the Nine Hells do you think you're doing?" It was a growl this time. He did that a lot, she noticed, that growling.

"I think you're a little delirious, Bishop. You've lost a lot of fluids." she replied, deciding to ignore his question. She was wondering now if the brandy was a good idea if he was dehydrated. Alcohol and dehydration didn't go together.

"I don't need your help." he said, angrily. "I didn't ask for it."

Her reply was calm and level. "No, you didn't. It was my choice to give it to you. Why are you acting like this?"

"Do yourself a favor, drow, and get out."

"What?"

"I said get out!"

He was fuming and she was confused by this shift in his temperament. Sudden anger in him was not the surprising part; it was the fact that it was completely unwarranted.

"What's wrong?" she asked, concerned.

Bishop sat up, glaring at her. "You've got five seconds. If you're not out by then, I'm going to gut you. Don't make me start counting."

Jaelyn, frowning and a little hurt by his attitude toward her, arose from the bed. "Fine. If this is how you treat people that're just trying to help, then I won't bother anymore."

"Good."

He laid back down and turned over on his side away from her.

Jaelyn scowled at him and marched over to the door.

"Ungrateful bastard!" she shouted at him and then slammed the door behind her.

She nearly ran right into Quin in the corridor, who looked up at her in concern.

"Hey, what's going on? I heard yelling..."

"You know what I said before about liking him?" she said to Quin, seething. "Well, you can forget it! I've changed my mind. I don't like him at all."

She stormed off toward the common room where she planned to drink until she was happy again. The problem with drinking to shift your mood was that your mood tended to get worse with each drink consumed. So, about after her fourth tankard, she was crying, swaying in her stool and wishing she'd never met a certain cruel ranger.

**xxxxxxxxxx**

The trio had been separated for most of the day, doing their own thing. Jaelyn was still in the common room, but she was no longer drunk or drinking, but simply sitting at a table playing solitaire with a deck of old, torn playing cards. Quin was above deck, lending a hand where he could. The storm was a thing of the past now and the ship had returned to a normal, smooth rocking motion. Bishop was still in their cabin, where he'd slept off the brunt of his seasickness, though he couldn't deny that the warm brandy had helped a lot by keeping his stomach steady long enough for him to fall asleep. He felt better, except for a weakness in his abdominal muscles from excessive vomiting and feeling extremely thirsty.

He was laying on his back on the bed, hands behind his head, and staring irritably at the cieling.

His mood had gotten worse despite the fact that his seasickness had passed. It was the drow's fault. He hadn't asked for her damn help. But he also couldn't figure out exactly what irritated him about her offer to make him feel better, which only deepened his irritation.

Meanwhile, in the common room, Jaelyn slapped a black jack on a red queen and sighed.

_Only nine more days,_ she mused, _and then we'll reach the unnamed island. Nine more days..._

She wasn't going to make it. It had only been a few hours since morning was officially over and already she was dying of boredom. What was she supposed to do for nine more days on a ship of people who loathed her?

Even her own companions loathed her, or at least the ranger did. She was still confused and wounded by the way he had treated her earlier. Mostly, she couldn't figure out what she'd done wrong. It's just like he attacked her for trying to make him feel better, which made no sense.

Well, excuse the hells out of her for having a heart. What was she supposed to do, just let him suffer?

It was her own fault for even trying. She should've known better. After all, she was drow and no matter what she did, it was always going to come off the wrong way, even if her intentions were good.

The sound of rushing feet on the deck above broke through her thoughts and she looked up, watching the dust and dirt between the boards drift down onto her table. There was some kind of panic up there.

She should probably investigate, though more than likely no one would want her help.

Sighing heavily, Jaelyn got up from her seat and headed for the corridor. She got about half way down it when the ranger came out of their cabin with his bow in hand, glancing around with a look of irritation. When his gaze came to her, he went stiff.

She mirrored his response.

"What's going on up there?" he asked.

She shrugged coldly and moved past him into the cabin. She went to the corner at the far right of the room where she'd put her equipment and rummaged through it for her weapons.

Jaelyn picked up her bow and slung it over one shoulder, then bent for her quiver and strapped it across her waist. When she turned to head out, she noticed the ranger was already gone.

Jaelyn climbed the stairs to the deck and found the crewmen, along with Captain Dalris, Quin and the navigator standing on the starboard side of the ship. Bishop was standing behind them, an arrow in his right hand, tapping it casually against his thigh.

Jaelyn went past him to stand beside Quin, touching his shoulder. The halfling looked up at her, grimly.

"Pirates," he said and pointed out to sea. "Looks like we're in for a little fight."

Jaelyn looked out and saw the large ship sailing toward them. Squinting, she could see small heads moving about on the deck.

The drow looked to the captain, who didn't seem worried. She suspected he wouldn't be, being a legendary pirate. He was probably used to this type of thing.

Dalris turned to the assembly around him. "All right, men. Half of you get below deck, the rest of you will stand with me. Remember the attack phrase."

The crewmen broke into two groups, some of them hurrying down into the cabin area while the rest hung back with the captain.

Jaelyn tugged at Quin's tunic. "What's going on?"

"Well, if the pirates attack, which they probably will, Dalris will have an ambush waiting for them. The pirates will come on deck, seeing only these men aboard and they'll think this is the entire crew. So when they attack, Dalris will shout the attack phrase and the rest of the crew will have them outnumbered. Hopefully."

Jaelyn shook her head, doubtfully. "That's not going to work."

"For once, I agree." said a husky voice from behind her.

Jaelyn and the halfling turned to the ranger standing behind them, arms crossed at his chest as he stared out at the approaching ship.

"They'll be expecting it, mark my words." he continued. "It's the oldest trick in the book and a Luskan specialty."

He turned his head and looked at Jaelyn and then Quin. "And that ship out there is a Luskan ship."

"How do you know?" Jaelyn demanded, suspiciously.

Bishop nodded his head toward the vessel and smirked. "The banner they're flying."

Jaelyn looked out at the ship again and saw the flag waving in the wind. It featured bloody crossed cutlasses over a yellowish-white skull on a field of black.

"Right," Jaelyn replied. "So, what do we do, then? If Dalris' plan is doomed to fail, then we need to think up another one and then hope the good ol' Captain will listen to us."

"He's not going to, I can tell you that now." Bishop said. "Think about it. If he's some legendary pirate, you think he's going to listen to us three landsmen?"

"Good point." Quin said with a nod. "So, we'll just have to come up with something on our own. At the very least, initiating two plans at once will confuse a lot of people. Hopefully just our enemies."

"Right, so, what's the plan?" Jaelyn asked, eagerly.

The ranger glanced around, looking across the deck, up at the sails, the crow's nest...

A devilish smile spread across his face.

"Uh, oh..." said Jaelyn. "I don't think I like that look."

He looked at her. "We're about to find out how good you really are with that bow."

Jaelyn looked worried. "Uh...we are?"

"Those pirates won't have ranged weapons on hand. If they do, it'll be at least one crossbow and the guy handling it won't be very good at it." Bishop explained. "With both of us up there, we should be able to take out a good number of their force."

He pointed to the crow's nest and smirked when she blanched.

She craned her head all the way back, shading her eyes from the sun to peer at the spot. "But it's so high..."

"Shouldn't be a problem for a fearless dragon rider like you."

"And what about you?" she snapped. "Do you think _you_ can handle being up that high?"

He narrowed his eyes at her. "Don't get smart with me, girl. Or maybe you won't mind becoming some pirate's wench."

She scoffed and retorted in a very disdainful manner, "Well, by your claim, no man above the surface would bother with me, anyway. What've I got to lose?"

"Your life then if you don't listen to me." Bishop growled, losing his patience. It was a threat as well as some good advice.

Quin, having enough, stepped between them. "Look, I don't know what's going on between the two of you, but we need to be allied in this, or we're all going to be pirate slaves. Or even worse, dead. So, knock it off."

The two rangers glared at one another for a few moments longer and then Jaelyn huffed and spun away to the mast.

"Stay down when you're up there." Bishop said to her back. "We'll have a better chance if they don't see us."

"What ever." she grumbled in reply and grabbed the rope ladder hanging against the mast to climb her way up to the crow's nest.

Quin turned to the ranger. "Well, while you two are up there, what am I going to do?"

Bishop shrugged. "Whatever you want, as long as it involves enemies getting killed."

The halfling grinned and flourished his rapier from its sheath. "Bring on the pirates!"

Bishop turned and began climbing his way up the mast.

On the deck of the Seawolf stood five crewmen, all brandishing some form of weaponry. Captain Dalris stood with them, cutlasses at the ready, and Quin was beside him with his rapier. Up in the crow's nest crouched Jaelyn and Bishop, both of their bows drawn and their arrows nocked.

They looked out over the sea as the pirate ship began to slow on its course. It was a few hundred yards away now and pirates could be seen running around on deck with their weapons at hand, gleaming in the sunlight.

They were all crowding at the prow of the ship, staring in the Seawolf's direction.

Jaelyn counted eight pirates on deck, including their captain, who was an elaborately dressed man in all frilly black with a black wide brimmed hat on his head, complete with a long purple feather of some unknown fowl.

"That's a Luskan pirate?" Jaelyn asked, dubiously. "I was expecting something else."

Bishop grunted. "They've gotten flashy nowadays, but don't let that frilly look fool you. They're still cold-blooded bastards who'd kill their own mother for a few coppers."

Jaelyn smiled thinly. "Oh, I'm perfectly aware of how much looks can be deceiving."

He looked at her, but said nothing. He supposed it was true enough, considering how many people looked at her, saw the drow, and immediately thought her a calculated killer, which she was not. She had it in her, he didn't doubt, but it would take a lot for her to actually act on the dark impulses of her heritage. She was stubborn and willful and those were the traits of a fighter. If she would simply adopt a dismissive attitude toward what people thought about her, she would be all the better for it.

He didn't think about it any further. It wasn't his concern.

They continued watching as the ship closed in and slowed to a stop. A few crewmen on the opposite ship were getting a long, thin gang plank in order. Their captain barked at them to hurry it up.

On the Seawolf, Captain Dalris stood proudly with his chin in the air, hands gripping his cutlasses tight. Quin stared through narrowed blue eyes at the other pirates.

The gang plank smacked down between the two ships and the pirate captain strode across it, brandishing a cutlass of his own.

He pointed it at Dalris. "Your ship. Now."

Dalris grinned his golden grin and Jaelyn nearly laughed when the other pirate shielded his eyes against the gold glare.

"You've got moxie, I'll give you that." said Dalris in amusement. "Do you seriously think I will simply hand this ship over to you?"

"I do, actually." said the other pirate. "For you see, if you don't, I'll slaughter every last one of your crewmen and then I'll turn you into shark bait. Now, you can hand it over peacefully and spare yourself the trouble, or we can do it the hard way. Your decision."

Dalris glared at him. "Do you know who I am, boy? I was pirating these seas while you were still stuck to your mother's teat. Now bugger off and save your life, fool."

But apparently, the other pirate had more balls than brains. He shouted a command to his crewmen and then pirates swarmed the Seawolf.

Dalris leaped at the other pirate captain, catching his ridiculous hat on the end of his cutlass. He gave it a twist and sent the hat flying from the man's head, down into the water. The Luskan pirate looked down at his hat floating away and growled.

"That was my best hat!" he shouted. "You'll pay for that!"

Their cutlasses clanged together in a shower of harmless sparks and Dalris shouted the attack phrase.

"Send 'em to the Locker!"

The other group of crewmen below deck came rumbling up the stairs, yelling and whooping and flailing their weapons about.

Quin was off to Dalris' right, trying to fence with a man several times his height, which turned out to be an advantage for the halfling. He could easily dodge the other pirate's slow attacks and on an upward slice, Quin jumped back and then dove forward through the man's legs with relative ease. He then turned over and thrust his rapier into the man's back. Unfortunately, when Quin tried to yank his weapon out, the dying man fell backwards on top of him.

"Ah!"

In the crow's nest, Bishop and Jaelyn were up from their crouched position, aiming their bows at the crewmen still trying to get onto the Seawolf's deck via the gang plank and the ones pouring out of the ship's cabin. Arrow after arrow flew across the distance and struck down men, some of them falling dead on their own ship deck or slipping off the gang plank into the water below. Bodies were dropping like flies.

"That makes five for me!" said Jaelyn, laughing and loosing an arrow at the same time. "Six!"

"Maybe so, girl, but my four have been direct head-shots." he replied, grinning. "Let's see you do that!"

"I thought we were playing for quantity, not accuracy."

"Quantity _and _accuracy."

Jaelyn laughed again, but it didn't last long.

Scanning over the fighting men, Jaelyn caught sight of that rare crossbowman the ranger had been talking about before, and unfortunately, he had sighted them up in the crow's nest. She heard the ominous click even from her place above and had but a split second to grab hold of the ranger and pull him and herself down.

Bishop gave her a glare and then the bolt meant for his head thudded into the mast of the crow's nest. He looked up at it and then glanced at her in surprise. Jaelyn smiled.

"That makes us even."

She stood back up, nocked an arrow, lifted the bow up and pulled the string back to anchor point in the same motion, aiming it at the crossbowman. It was all one fluid move made perfect with years of practice.

"Bastard." she cursed and loosed her arrow.

It sailed across the distance, narrowly missed one of the other ship's crewman engaged in battle with a Seawolf crewman and then struck the crossbowman right through his throat. He fell back onto the deck, gurgling, his crossbow landing on top of him.

"Decent shot." noted the ranger to Jaelyn's surprise.

She swung around and looked at him. "Was that a compliment?"

He scowled at her. "An observation."

She looked thoughtful for a moment and then shrugged. "Thanks."

Below on the deck, the other ship's crew was dwindling quickly. No more men were coming out of the cabin and the Seawolf's crew was still intact, mostly. There was one casualty, a young man who had been too bold for his own good and charged a heavily armed opponent with a club.

The last battle was between Dalris and the enemy ship's captain, their cutlasses whirling about, dipping and thrusting. But the fight didn't last much longer. Dalris went in for an arcing cut and was sprayed in the face with blood as several arrows, seemingly come out of no where, struck into his opponent's face. He fell in a heap at Dalris' feet.

The captain of the Seawolf looked around in confusion, wondering where the arrow had come from. He looked up and spotted the two archers in the crow's nest.

Frowning, Dalris lifted a gloved fist in their direction. "Get down here, the both of you!"

Jaelyn looked down at Dalris and shook her head. "He doesn't look happy."

"Too bad for him." Bishop replied dismissively. "If it wasn't for me they'd all probably be dead right now. If he wants to say something, let him. I'll just remind him who killed the majority of these men."

"Us." she corrected.

"What?"

"If it wasn't for _us_. I helped, too, you know."

He looked at her a moment and then shrugged. "If you say so."

Bishop moved to climb down from the crow's nest, but Jaelyn reached out and grabbed his shoulder. He looked back at her expectantly and a little annoyed at her impeding him.

"Why weren't you scared, being up here?" she inquired, curiously. "The height didn't even bother you like it did on Elegy."

He shrugged. "I wasn't thinking about it. Besides, it's not that high up."

In truth, he had enjoyed the battle, letting those arrows loose on enemies. It had an exhilarating effect that he hadn't felt in a very long time. And more over, it was actually kind of fun shooting with her, making a game of it. Much better than playing Quin's golf. They were going to have to have more archery contests.

He jumped off the last loop of the rope ladder and landed firmly on the deck as Captain Dalris approached him with a furious look on his face. A few moments later, Jaelyn landed beside the ranger and the look on the captain's face darkened.

"Where do you two get off disobeying my orders?" Dalris growled.

"I don't take orders from anyone." Bishop shot back. "Besides, your orders would've gotten us killed. They knew you had men below deck."

"How do you know?" snapped Dalris.

"They're Luskan pirates." he replied with a shrug. "That little plan you had? Well, they're the ones that invented it. You should know, being a legendary pirate and all."

Dalris did not mistake the ranger's sarcastic, mocking tone, nor did he care for it in the least.

"You listen to me, you bastard." he said, jabbing a thick, gold-ringed index finger into the ranger's chest. "I don't care who you think you are, I'm not going to be talked to like that or I'll have you thrown off this ship!"

"Oh, yeah?" the ranger spat, narrowing his gold eyes at the larger man. "I'd love to see you try."

Dalris stepped toward him and the ranger's hand was nothing more than a flash as it unsheathed his dagger in record time and thrust its point at Dalris.

"Go on," Bishop urged him, sneering. "Take another step and I'll cut you from ear to ear."

Dalris looked like he was going to do it, but Jaelyn didn't give him the chance as she wedged herself between the two snarling men. She was facing Dalris, narrowing her own eyes at him.

"Look," she said. "We're all a little worked up from the fight. Why don't we calm down now, hm?

Dalris looked her up and down, scowling in disgust and blatant hatred. "Get out of my face, you vile, Lolth-worshipping freak."

Jaelyn stared back at him in shock. That was by far one of the worst insult she'd ever received. She couldn't speak, but she felt the hammering of her heart, brought on by anger and shame. The presence of shame confused her and she didn't understand why she felt it. What was she being ashamed of? Of what she was? That was ridiculous! She could no more change her drow heritage than the insulting man before her could change his heritage. But that feeling was there all the same and it wounded her that she found herself ashamed of what she was.

There was a heavy laugh from behind her and in her inner turmoil, Jaelyn was unsure if the ranger was laughing at the insult, her, or the man, or something else, but it became clear when he spoke.

"You've got a lot of nerve calling her a freak." said Bishop. "Have you smiled in a mirror lately?"

Dalris fumed. "Why, you little.."

The captain took hold of Jaelyn and thrust her out of the way to get at the ranger. Given the fact that the man was considerably larger than Jaelyn and did not know his own strength in his moment of rage (or maybe he did), the drow was literally tossed to the floor like dirty laundry. She landed on the deck hard, painfully. Across the deck, she could hear a few cheers from the crewmen, who were undoubtedly elated to see her fall. She paid them no heed and picked herself up just in time to see Dalris take a bold swing at Bishop. The fist meant for his face cut the air over his head as he ducked the attack. Royally pissed, Bishop wasted no time in countering. His arm was a blur as it came forward and his blade slashed across Dalris' face. The former pirate staggered back. Jaelyn gasped, jumped forward, and latched onto the ranger's arm before he could do anymore damage.

"Are you crazy? Stop!"

He barely heard her over the boil in his blood, but he felt her hand on his arm, trying to stop him. One smoldering look of warning had her quickly removing her hand.

Dalris touched his face, drew his hand away to stare at the blood on his fingers and then glared at the ranger, who was seething and barely keeping himself in check.

"Do that again," Bishop growled at the former pirate through clenched teeth. "And I'll kill you."

Jaelyn stood there in anxiety, staring between Bishop and Dalris.

Quin, who'd been aiding a few of the crewmen with the looting operation of the enemy ship, was hurrying over to them, a look of concern on his face.

"What's going on here?" he asked, looking from Jaelyn, to Dalris, to Bishop in confusion. "What did I miss? Why's Dalris bleeding? Why's Bishop so pissed?"

"Oh, you know..." Jaelyn said and left it at that. She didn't think she needed to explain considering Bishop was almost always pissed or irritated about something. And if there was someone within his vicinity bleeding, it was probably because they had done a good job of pissing him off further.

Something in the ranger's gaze made Dalris back down. It was something that would forever be unknown to those who had not taken part in the fight. It was something intense that had passed between ranger and pirate. Perhaps Dalris had seen the years of bloodshed and murder reflected in the ranger's eyes that put his own experiences to shame, perhaps he'd seen the results of a fight between the two of them and the pirate found that he would've been brutally slaughtered. It was a warning between men, one man who would kill without a second thought and another who would be killed if he didn't back off.

Frowning and a little perturbed, Dalris sniffed, touched his cheek again and then sauntered off.

Jaelyn sighed in relief and turned fully to the still-fuming ranger.

"Are you all right?" she asked, tentatively laying a hand on his shoulder in concern.

He'd promptly shrugged off and gave her a chilling, unpleasant look that told her she had just made two mistakes. The first was speaking to him and the second was touching him again.

"Just back off." he warned her in a tone that left no room for argument and then marched away in fury.

He needed to cool off. He could hardly see straight.

The ranger stood at the ship's stern, right at the spot where Jaelyn had vented her rage on the ship's wooden railing. He stared down at the marred wood, running gloved fingers over the splits and cracks in them. Somehow, they tempered his rage. Until a particularly large splinter fought through his leather glove and inserted itself into his index finger without invitation.

He cursed savagely and yanked the offending wooden sliver out, flicking it out into the water.

So far, it was turning out to be a fantastic day.

**xxxxxxxxxx**

"What're you doing?" Jaelyn inquired, leaning over Quin where he sat at the small desk in their cabin.

Quin looked over his shoulder at her and smiled. "Counting gold."

"Gold?"

"Yeah, it's what I stole off the pirate ship. There was quite a lot of it, too. They must have just robbed someone." he explained. "So, I got us a pretty good slice of the pie. It took some convincing, of course. Dalris definitely didn't want to pay Bishop, but I reminded him that if it wasn't for you and him, this ship might be in Luskan hands right about now and we'd all be dead or, at the least, pirate slaves."

Quin turned fully in his chair to look at her. "You two...you were really amazing up there in that crow's nest."

Jaelyn grinned. "Oh, go on."

It was strange. She hadn't done so much smiling in her life until she met Quin. Now that upward lift of her lips was starting to feel natural, as if it belonged there. Bishop made her smile sometimes, too, but Quin made it happen all the time. Sometimes all she had to do was look at him. Quin had one of those contagious smiles, one you couldn't help but adore and appreciate, one that simply lit up a room. She was truly thankful to have met him. Quin was indeed the friend she had feared she'd never have in life.

"No, really," said the halfling. "Oh, and by the way, are you going to tell me what happened out there today between our ranger and Dalris? I don't think I've ever seen Bishop that angry before. He looked like he was going to murder Dalris."

Jaelyn shrugged. "Dalris ran his mouth off at us for not obeying his commands. Bishop made a comment that made Dalris angry. He threw me to the ground and tried to attack him. Bishop cut him, threatened to kill him and Dalris backed off. That's about it."

"Hmm...interesting." the halfling said, looking thoughtful.

Jaelyn rose a brow and leaned over him once again, peering at the gold on the table. "So, we get paid then?"

"Yep, five thousand gold a piece."

Jaelyn's eyes grew wide. "_Five thousand_?"

Quin laughed. "What're you getting so excited about? That isn't a lot."

"It is to me." she replied. "The most gold I've ever seen is a thousand pieces."

"But you were raised by dragons. Don't they have hoards?" Quin asked.

"Not song dragons. Or at least my clan didn't." she said, smiling. "What am I going to do with all that gold?"

"Build a home in the wilds?" suggested Quin. "Isn't that what you wanted to do?"

"Yes, but only after I'm done adventuring with you." she said. "You know, I'm actually quite enjoying myself, despite some of the circumstances. I'm really looking forward to seeing this island."

"As am I." said Quin. "I'm eager to see what was so important to Malar Claw that he'd be willing to give up some of his luxuries."

"You have any idea what it might be?"

Quin reached down beside his chair for his pack, rummaged through it and brought out the treasure map. He unfolded it and began spreading it out on the table when the door to their cabin opened.

Jaelyn looked over her shoulder to see Bishop entering the room with a somewhat sour look on his face. She offered him a smile, which he did not return as he made his way across the room and over to the side of his bed where he kept his belongings. Jaelyn wondered for a moment if he might still be wound up from his fight with Dalris, but Quin brought her attention back around.

"You see, there's something written on the back of this map, but I don't understand what it means." the halfling said, pointing a finger to the writing in the upper left corner of the map, the ink faded with age.

She moved closer to get a better look. The ranger was standing behind them now, looking over her shoulder.

Jaelyn read slowly over the words. "Beneath an untouched world, pulses a life-giving Heart, a foreign thread in the fabric of magic." she read.

"Great. _Riddles_." spoke Bishop from behind her with some disdain.

Jaelyn nearly jumped out of her skin. She hadn't even heard him approach back there.

Quin scratched his head quizzically. "Confusing."

Jaelyn nodded. "A foreign thread in the fabric of magic? That's got to be talking about the Weave."

"Untouched world..." the halfling mused.

"The island." guessed the ranger.

"Oh, yeah!" Quin piped, nodding. "Maybe no one's ever been to it before, so that's why it's untouched."

"Heart, though?" Jaelyn said, unsure.

Quin shrugged.

Bishop offered another suggestion. "Heart is just another word for core or center, so maybe the center of this island is home to a lot of magic."

Quin and Jaelyn stared at him and then replied in unison, "Oh."

The ranger frowned, darkly.

"I was expecting gold, half-man."

"Well, maybe there'll be gold on this island."

"For your sake, there had better be." the ranger warned.

Jaelyn frowned at him but said nothing. She didn't much care for his tone, or the sinister look in his eye.

"Speaking of gold," Quin went on, oblivious to the threat that had just been made on his life.

He reached across the table and lifted a large pouch of gold. He gestured it to the ranger, who took it without hesitation, but offered a look of inquiry all the same.

"It's from what we looted off the pirate ship." said Quin. "Five thousand gold."

"About time I got paid."

The drow, hands on her hips, looked upon the ranger in disapproval, and this time she couldn't keep her mouth shut. "Is gold all you care about?"

He didn't even blink. "Yeah. Gold can get you just about anything you need."

"Including companionship?" she retorted and knew she should've just kept her mouth shut.

Bishop grinned. "Oh, you can definitely buy companionship. I've bought enough of it in my time."

Jaelyn snorted derisively. "Indeed, you probably have. Something tells me that's the only way you can get it."

Bishop laughed in amusement to her insult and then shrugged. "I wouldn't want it any other way. Paying for it is a lot less complicated than trying to get it the other way and there's no commitment involved. You get what you want and move on."

"You're disgusting."

He shot her an unpleasant look. "Says the drow."

"Bastard." she growled at him in anger.

Quin sighed loudly before the ranger could get off his insult, which had been a rather good one, too.

"Would you two knock it off?" he groused. "One minute you're getting along swimmingly, the next you're practically at each others' throat. Either get married or kill each other. I really don't care which just as long as you both _SHUT UP_!"

Both rangers stared at the halfling, one in shock and the other in derision, as he rolled up the map, shoved it back in his pack and then stormed off toward the door.

"I'm going to the common room." he called back over his shoulder in irritation and then slammed the door behind him.

The room was graveyard silent for some moments and then Bishop looked at the drow.

"Now see what you've done?" he said in a mocking fashion. "You upset your friend."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "_I_ upset him? You're the one that started it all!"

"No, I didn't," he shot back. "You're the one that insulted me first. Don't think I'm not going to defend myself."

"It isn't an insult if it's fact!"

"Then you admit you were insulting me, because there was no fact in what you said."

"Oh, there was plenty of fact, you swine!"

He snorted. "Swine. That's real original."

"I can think up a lot more, believe me. I'm loaded with ammunition."

"Take your best shot then, spider-lover."

They stood there for a good fifteen minutes, shouting insults into each others' face, insults that successfully dirtied the Common tongue, until Jaelyn accidentally found herself lapsing into Draconian.

The ranger stared at her with a risen brow when the foreign words had been said. "Eh?"

Jaelyn offered a sneering grin full of teeth. "Wouldn't you like to know."

He rolled his eyes. "No, 'cause I really don't care."

Jaelyn shook her head. "Indeed. That's your problem."

"It's not a problem for me. It's just a problem for everyone else."

"What ever. I'm done talking to you."

"Good, 'cause I'm done looking at you."

"Asshole!"

"Bitch."

Jaelyn let out a frustrated and furious groan and then stomped out of the room. The door slammed back against its frame.

Alone, Bishop grinned. That drow was far too easy to rile.


	5. Chapter 5: They Got Screwed

**xxxxxx**

* * *

**Chapter Five:**

**They Got Screwed**

**xxxxxx**

**Over** the passing days, not much occurred. Jaelyn kept mostly to the common room in the daytime and to the trio's cabin at night to avoid the sneers, whispers, and, random insults spat at her. She and the ranger rarely spoke and when they did, it usually ended up with them hurling insults at each other. Bishop spent all his time in the common room and rarely saw a sober moment. He had completely annihilated the rum he'd bought in Neverwinter and was dangerously close to draining the ship of its whiskey supply. Also, in his drunken state, he'd inadvertently made up with Dalris, while the captain was soused as well. It wasn't known to the ranger, but he had a much more approachable and welcoming personality when he was drunk out of his mind compared to when he wasn't. That's why he was very confused when Dalris started hailing him in a friendly fashion, as if Bishop had never sliced his dagger across the man's face. He was even more bewildered when a good number of the crewmen began patting him on the back companionably and greeting him every time he walked by as if they'd all been friends for years. He didn't care much for the attention and wondered why they were being so irritatingly pleasant to him now. They were pirates, or at least they were part of a pirate crew at one point. They weren't supposed to be pleasant people. They were supposed to be 'arrr'ing and killing each other over gold. Why couldn't people live up to their stereotypes?

Once, Bishop sucked it up and asked the halfling why everyone on the ship was suddenly so friendly. The halfling simply laughed at him. Bishop still didn't get what was so damn hilarious about a simple question.

Quin was the only one out of all of them that went about the ship all day and night, talking to the crewmen and making them laugh with his tales of being a Shadow Thief and how he'd gotten the treasure map. Everyone loved the halfling, who had a spirit as golden as his hair.

It was their seventh day on the ship when land was finally spotted. Despite the storm they had sailed through, they had still made good time. The island lay ahead of them, a small patch of green interrupting the expanse of sparkling blue ocean.

The call came from the crow's nest.

"Land ho!"

Crewmen froze in mid-task, craning their heads up to look at their mate in the crow's nest, waiting to see if they had heard right.

"Land ho!" he cried again.

Men scrambled about on deck, rushing to the prow where they stood huddled together in eagerness, peering ahead at the splotch of green and brown growing larger on the horizon and talking excitedly to one another.

"Blimey! We finally made it."

"Well, I'll be a son of a biscuit eater, that's a pretty big island."

"Someone should go tell the Cap'n."

But Dalris was already heading up the stairs from the cabin area. He strode across the deck in no real hurry and when he made it to the prow where his men were gathered, he noted the land marking the horizon, mildly.

The island held no regard with Dalris. He wasn't interested in it. What he wanted was exactly what he was standing on. He wanted full control over the Seawolf, to own the vessel and become that legendary pirate once again.

One of the crewmen smacked him on the back. "We made it, Cap'n!"

Dalris grinned a nasty grin full of gold teeth and nodded. "Indeed we did. Get ready to drop anchor, lads. And ready a rowboat."

The men broke apart obediently, but one crewman paused and looked at his captain with interest.

"Only one rowboat, Cap'n?"

Dalris nodded. "That's all we're going to need, I think."

The crewman shrugged and hurried away.

Dalris faced the prow again and watched as the island grew closer.

Quin, who'd been aiding some crewmen on the poop deck with moving cargo about, joined the captain, looking ahead at the land with a large smile on his face.

"I never thought we'd get here."

Below deck, Jaelyn was the first to hear the call, or so she thought. She wasn't the only one in the vicinity with sharp ears.

She'd been in the common room when she heard the announcement of land from above deck. She immediately rose from her designated stool and headed for the stairs.

Jaelyn was met half way through the hall by the ranger, who poked his head out of their cabin, looking at her and narrowing his eyes.

"Did I hear what I think I heard?"

Jaelyn shrugged. "I heard 'Land Ho'."

"That's what I heard."

After days of not speaking, or at least not speaking in any pleasant manner to each other, they exchanged a smile and then hurried up the stairs to the deck.

They were met immediately by Quin, who was grinning from ear to ear.

"Land!" he cried, unable to contain his excitement. "We made it to the island!"

In her own excitement, Jaelyn leaped at the halfling, threw her arms around him and lifted him up off the deck. She spun him around in her arms as one might do a child, laughing joyously. Quin laughed with her.

The ranger shook his head and rolled his eyes.

"Idiots."

The trio made their way to Dalris, who still stood at the prow. The captain turned to face them, a firm look on his face.

"Well, that's your island, according to the navigator." he said. "So get ready to go. You three have the honor of disembarking the ship first. You'll have to reach the shore by rowboat, of course."

Quin nodded. "Right. Thanks, Dalris, for getting us here."

The old sea-dog shook his head. "Nay, Quin. It's I who should be thanking you. After all, you hired me to captain this vessel, brought back the good ol' days."

The triad of human, half-drow, and halfling went below deck to their cabin to pack up their belongings, while Dalris ordered the anchor to be dropped.

They could hear the chain being released, clinking loudly and then a splash as the anchor struck water. The ship immediately stopped moving.

"I'll be damn glad when we get off this tub." remarked Bishop as he pulled the strap of his pack over his head so that the brunt of it sat on his hip.

"Definitely." Quin agreed. "I can hardly wait to get out there and explore."

Jaelyn straightened from her stooped position, pulling her pack over her shoulder. "You said it. Are we ready to go?"

With no protest from the other two, they returned to the deck.

Dalris, now standing on the starboard side of the ship, waved them over.

"The boat's already in the water. We got the rope ladder ready for you." he said, when they stopped before him. "But this is as close as we can get without getting beached. We're about two miles from shore."

Quin nodded. "We can row two miles, right?"

He looked at Jaelyn and Bishop for approval. They both shrugged.

"Well, we're going to find out, then." said the halfling.

"Yeah, what ever," replied Bishop, impatiently. "Let's just go."

He maneuvered over the railing, positioned himself on the rope ladder and then began climbing down to the boat below.

Quin turned to Dalris and held out his hand to him. Dalris took it and they shook like old pals.

"We'll be back in a few days to let you know what we find." the halfling said.

Dalris nodded with a strange smile. "We'll be eager to hear it."

Quin climbed over the rail and made his way down the ladder.

Jaelyn looked over the edge and peered down at her two companions, then she looked at Dalris.

"We never did see eye to eye for obvious reasons, but I am grateful that you got us here safely." she said to him. "Thank you."

Dalris jerked a thumb to the rope ladder with a scowl. "Just get going."

She sighed and drew herself over the side, putting her feet into the rungs of the rope ladder. She descended slowly, taking her time; it wasn't easy climbing down a rope ladder. She stopped when felt something from above, a tug on the ladder and when she glanced up, she saw Dalris leaning over the side with a dagger in his hand, the blade sawing at the rope while he stared down at her with a grim smile.

"What're you doing?" she shouted up at him. "Stop!"

"Dalris!" came Quin's shout. "Knock it off! She can't-"

His words were cut off by Jaelyn's cry as one side of the rope was cut and gave way, sending her rocking back and forth at the side of the ship like a pendulum. She held to the rope for dear life, looking down at the dooming water below. It just wasn't fair; she was too young to die.

Dalris began working on the last strip of rope, pressing the blade of his dagger deep into the fibers.

Quin grabbed the ranger by the arm and shook him. "Do something!"

Bishop shoved the little man away and glared at him. "And what do you want me to do about it?"

"You got a bow, use it!"

"You're making a big deal out of nothing, half-man. She'll just land in the water."

"I know that, damn you, but she can't swim, remember?"

Bishop sighed heavily in annoyance. "Oh, yeah..."

Dalris' knife slipped through the last thread of fiber. Jaelyn let out a sharp cry as her hands fumbled at thin air. She plummeted into the water.

"Jaelyn!" Quin shouted in alarm and anxiety as he looked over the side of the boat.

He searched the water frantically, unable to see his friend under the surface and then looked up at the ranger with a face full of concern.

"I'm not strong enough to lift her. You'll have to get her."

Somewhere in Bishop's mind, Conscience pressed its face between its cell bars and said quite evidently, _She'll drown, you know._

He groaned.

As usual it was up to him to do something.

He took a deep breath and rolled over the side of the boat into the water, disappearing below the surface.

Quin looked up at Dalris with a rare expression of anger on his face. "Why? Why'd you do it, damn you?"

Dalris shrugged. "One less drow in the world."

"You bastard!"

Dalris laughed. "Well, that's it for us, Quin. It's been nice knowing you, but I've really got to run."

Quin's blue eyes widened. "What? You can't leave us here!"

"I can't? That's funny, because that's exactly what I'm doing. The Seawolf's mine now. Farewell, Quin."

The captain and his crew disappeared from the rail and the halfling heard Dalris' command to pull up the anchor.

"Ah, shit." he swore angrily.

Had the other two not been underwater, they would've heard Quin curse-really curse-for the very first time. The ranger would've been proud of him.

The ship began moving again and Quin searched the water, praying to the gods that his companions didn't get trapped underneath the ship.

Thankfully, a few moments later, Bishop emerged through the surface with Jaelyn clinging to him and sputtering for air.

Quin reached out to grab hold of her arm and vainly tried to pull her into the boat, while the ranger climbed in after her, laboring for breath.

"Are you all right?" Quin asked Jaelyn, who was lying back in the boat, gasping with her white hair stuck to her face.

"I really, really hate that Dalris." she panted.

"You're about to hate him a whole lot more." Quin said, grimly.

Jaelyn wiped her hair out of her eyes and looked at Quin with inquiry all over her face.

In response, he pointed to the Seawolf, which was sailing away from them.

Jaelyn sat up sharply, making the boat rock violently. Bishop nearly flipped over backwards into the water, but was lucky enough to grab hold of the side of the boat to brace himself. He glowered at Jaelyn.

_One of these days..._

"He can't do this to us!"

"Looks like he already did." said Bishop, helpfully and then he scowled. "I knew I should've killed that bastard when I had the chance."

"But how're we going to get back to the mainland?" Jaelyn cried, hysterically, waving her hands about.

"Let's worry about getting to the island first." the ranger said. "I think I'll look at this situation a whole lot calmer once we're on dry land."

**xxxxxxxxxx**

Jaelyn had never seen him like this before and she was glad she wasn't the one that had angered Bishop.

_So much for looking at the situation calmer, _she thought as she watched the incensed man curse and pace the shore line with his face contorted in a very unpleasant expression.

"We're fucked!" he cried. "Gods! We are royally and completely fucked!"

Quin, who sat beside Jaelyn in the sand, also watched as the man went back and forth, wearing tracks into the white sand beneath his boots.

"Calm down." the halfling dared to say.

He flinched openly when Bishop's golden eyes landed on him like a boulder; cold, hard, and crushing.

The halfling blanched. "I only meant-"

"Shut up!" the ranger's sharp voice sliced through Quin's words like a well-honed blade.

Quin's mouth snapped shut on command. He knew just as well as Jaelyn did that this man was not to be spoken to or approached when he was angry. It would be better just to stay out of his way, let him vent his rage, and hope that it didn't catch the world on fire.

They both wondered how long he could actually go on like this.

Apparently, for an hour, because an hour later, Bishop finally stopped pacing the shore, looked out over the ocean to the dot on the horizon that was the Seawolf and sent one final swear across the ocean before facing Quin and Jaelyn.

"So, what now, then?" he asked of them in a voice that demanded answers and good ones if they wanted to see tomorrow.

"Well," Jaelyn said. "While you were...doing that, I was thinking maybe I could try speaking with Elegy through our bond. Maybe he could fly here and then fly us back to the mainland."

The ranger eyed her skeptically. "From twelve hundred miles away?"

She shrugged. "It's worth a shot, right?"

He waved a hand dismissively. "Yeah, fine. What choice do we have?"

Bishop sat down in the sand beside Quin and looked at the drow expectantly. "Well? What're you waiting for?"

Jaelyn frowned. "All right, give me a moment."

She took in a deep breath, shut her eyes, and reached across the distance with her mind, seeking the mind of her bond-mate. She'd never been this far from Elegy before, so she was unsure if the mind link could connect that far. She felt that pull in her brain, as if it were a rubber band being stretched, but this time it was stretching a lot further, over a thousand miles of ocean and, depending on where Elegy was, even further. There was a painful stitch above her brow and an even more painful tightening in her brain. The further she reached out, the tighter it got. The pain blossomed and she bit her lip. At her sides, her hands clenched into defiant fists. Sweat rolled down her brow and temples. Her hands trembled. Her chest felt constricted. And that pain in her head intensified again until it became unbearable. She could take it no more. Jaelyn pulled back from trying to make the link, exhausted.

Over several hundreds of miles of ocean and a few hundred miles of land, a song dragon sat at the top of a mountain, peering through pale green, slit-pupil eyes in the direction of the coastline and wondered just how far his half-drow bond-mate had traveled. He could no longer feel her presence.

Back on the island, Jaelyn opened her eyes to bright squiggly spots worming around on her vision.

She had failed to connect with her bond-mate and now she had a headache.

Jaelyn looked between Quin and Bishop, shaking her head. "No good."

The ranger scoffed. "Figures."

"I'll keep trying."

There was that unpleasant look of his again. He was really good at that, Jaelyn mused.

"What good will it do, eh? You'll never make contact with that dragon, not this far away."

"I might," she replied. "Maybe it just takes practice. After all, I've never been this far away form Elegy before to know if I can do it or not."

"What ever you say." said Bishop. "I'm not going to be expecting anything to come of it."

Jaelyn stood up from where she sat, brushing sand angrily from her trousers. "No, Gods forbid anyone should ask you to do anything."

"Yeah," he shot back. "And remember that. I do what I want, got it?"

"Oh, indeed. It's a shame you don't want to go out into that ocean and drown yourself." she retorted in a voice full of cold, razor-sharp knives.

"What, and leave your pleasant company? I wouldn't dream of it."

"Please, do. In fact, I will pay you to leave."

He gave her a wolfish grin and with a voracious glint in his eyes, he looked her up and down. "Interesting proposition. What's your currency?"

Jaelyn gaped at him.

"Enough!" Quin shouted, grabbing fistfuls of sand and throwing it about in his anger. "Gods! I knew your personalities would clash, but I never thought it would be this violently. What is the problem with you two?"

"Her."

"Him!"

"Those sound like pretty lame excuses to me." said Quin. "Now, come on. Fighting amongst ourselves is not going to solve our problem, you both know that. And anyway, there's not much we can do about it right now. Our only option is for Jaelyn to keep trying to contact the dragon. Until then, why don't we explore this island? I mean, that's why we're here, right?"

Jaelyn nodded. "You're right."

She glanced up at the sun, which was beaming at them through the enormous, towering trees of the jungle behind them. They had another four hours before nightfall.

The Island was quite crowded with rich green tropical trees, ferns, brush, and a variety of other flora. The sand continued up from the water a good couple of yards or so before it began sprouting green grass and ground cover. The beach was truly a beautiful place, despite the raging heat. The sand was so white and pure it was as if nothing, not even time had ever touched it. The waves crashed on the shoreline, clawed at the sand, leaving behind bits of foam before it slid back to sea again.

"Why don't we make this our camp?" Jaelyn suggested.

Quin nodded. "Good idea. It's nice here."

"Oh, sure." groused Bishop. "It's perfect...if you like getting sand in all your crevices."

Jaelyn stuck her hands on her hips and huffed at him, but otherwise kept any insults or sarcastic remarks to herself. He really was a wretched son of a bitch.

"It's just for now." Quin said. "I mean, we don't want to go into the jungle there and make camp since we have no idea what's in there yet. We've traveled too far to just come here and get eaten by some hungry monster on our first night. Once we've explored a bit, we can move the camp."

"Fine." snapped the ranger. "Then let's go. I'm sick of waiting around."

The trio left their packs on the beach, taking only necessary items, such as weapons and canteens, which would need to be filled if they happened by a creek or stream in their exploration. Then they headed into the jungle with Bishop leading them.

Once they breached the trees and brush bordering the shoreline, they entered an entirely different world that resembled more of a forest that an actual jungle. It was cooler in there, not humid as they had expected, and it was strangely beautiful. The tropical trees mingled harmoniously with coniferous and deciduous trees; some of these trees were specifically created not to dwell in humid, tropical climates, but were defying nature now by growing very tall, spreading very prosperously, and looking particularly green and healthy in that very climate where it should have been physically impossible. There were small glades of wildflowers, patches of enormous mushrooms that looked almost big enough for a dwarf to live in-if dwarves were in the habit of living in mushrooms- and ferns that were of a startling size, spreading out to take up several feet across. It seemed the ferns that grew closest to the trunks of the trees were the largest. There were splotches, spreads, blots, dapples, spots, and growths of many different species of plants that were too numerous to name and some of which could not be named at all because it didn't fit into the large encyclopedia of flora residing in the brains of both rangers.

As it happened, Jaelyn was kneeling before a very strange looking flower with dark blue and yellow speckled heart-shaped petals and a bright yellow stem. In the center of the petals there were two antennae like protrusions with fuzzy balls on the ends which seemed to be glowing. She picked it, wanting to show it to Bishop and ask him if he'd ever seen anything like it, but the moment she did, it screamed in agony to her shock, making her drop it on the ground.

"What was that?" Quin asked, turning away from an enormous tree he'd been studying, a tree that looked very suspiciously like it had a face.

Stricken, Jaelyn bent and picked the flower up, staring at it. It was already wilted.

"I killed it."

The ranger gave it an uninterested look and shrugged. "It's just a flower...an ugly one, at that."

Jaelyn let it fall out of her hand again and then turned away. No one saw the flower as its stem burrowed into the dirt, slid into the hole and then tucked dirt around the base of its stem with its petals. It then stood tall and proud, as if it had never even wilted. It was the type of flower that loathed being picked and had a defense mechanism of playing dead if it was.

The trio moved on, searching out their surroundings with interest. Even Bishop, who was rarely moved by anything, found himself a little taken aback by the beauty of the forest. It seemed like a paradise. He'd never seen so much beauty in one place before.

The air was filled with an assortment of fragrances, from flowers to pinewood, and very faint was the smell of water-not sea water, but fresh water. Sea water always carried with it the smell of fish and salt. This had no such scent. It was pleasant, like rain.

"There's a stream or something around here." Bishop commented.

Jaelyn nodded her agreement and sniffed the air. "A few miles north..."

She sniffed the air again, longer this time. "Five miles."

Bishop looked at her, incredulously. "How in the Hells can you possibly know that?"

She grinned and tapped her nose. "Good sense of smell...and direction. Trust me, five miles from here. Count if you like."

"All right, I will." he said. "I think you're full of it."

Sure enough, five miles later, they came to a bubbling stream, clear and sparkling. The scent of the water was refreshing and pleasant.

All three of them bent down to it on the bank to fill their canteens. Bishop tried to ignore the fact that she had shown him up. He really hated her for it. Jaelyn wasn't about to let it pass, though. It was her moment of victory over him.

She took a drink from her canteen, twisted the top on it, and then glanced at him with a grin.

"You sure got quiet all of a sudden." she remarked. "That wouldn't have anything to do with me proving you wrong, would it?"

He shot her a glare. "Don't get cocky, girl. It was one thing. It's not like you discovered a cure for the plague or something."

"If it was just one thing, then why are you so worked up about it?"

"I'm not." he spat. "You're the one making a big deal out of it. I could care less either way."

Jaelyn laughed. "Of course. That's why you've got that look on your face, right?"

"What look? There's no look."

Quin glanced between them and shook his head. It was always something with those two. He couldn't tell if they genuinely hated each other or if they were unknowingly falling in love. Or maybe it was both.

"Oh, come on, Bishop." she replied, rolling her eyes. "We all know what that cold, intimidating, pissed off look means. Do you really get so angry when you're proven wrong?"

"Just drop it," the ranger snapped. "I'm done with it."

Jaelyn smiled. "Now you're just getting defensive."

Bishop looked up at her, a hard, disdainful expression on his face that warned her that she was about to be sorry. Jaelyn was oblivious to it.

She slapped him on the shoulder in a mockingly friendly manner, gave him a teasing look of smugness and said "It's fine. You can't be right all the time."

There was a brief moment as he merely stared at her. Then that mean look went away and he smiled pleasantly. That should've been Jaelyn's first clue that something was definitely wrong. He never smiled pleasantly.

To her shock, the ranger leaned in close to her, so close her heart began racing in anticipation of what he meant to do. Her breath lodged firmly in her throat and refused to budge as she lost herself momentarily in the warm, amber depths of his eyes.

Her mind and body were expecting a kiss. She got something else: an unpleasant surprise.

Bishop shoved her into the stream.

Jaelyn let out a cry, more out of shock than anything else and floundered in terror for a moment in the water.

Quin stared at her with wide eyes and a big grin as he watched her splash about.

"I can't swim!" she cried frantically, not realizing that the water was barely deep enough to reach her calves if she were standing.

Bishop stood up and looked down at her in amusement. "You do realize you can't drown in that, right?"

The comment cut through her terror long enough for her to look down and see that she was barely even wet and to realize that she had just made a major fool of herself. She blushed and Quin began to laugh.

Jaelyn shot him a look of betrayal and then slapped her hand across the surface of the water in the halfling's direction. Water splashed up and went right into his face. Quin sputtered, wiped his eyes and looked at her in shock.

"Jae!" he cried. "What was that for?"

A slow grin come upon her face and she splashed him again. Quin turned his face away just in time and then with a laugh, he leaped into the water and stared to swash it at her. She laughed and shielded her eyes.

The ranger stood on the bank, arms crossed at his chest as he watched them make utter fools out of themselves.

After a moment, Jaelyn and Quin stopped splashing each other, but they were still giggling like children.

"Are you two done acting like idiots now?" Bishop asked with an impatient expression.

Jaelyn and Quin exchanged a mischievous look and the ranger knew exactly what was about to happen to him, or at least what they were going to attempt to do to him. He'd be damned if he allowed it to happen.

"No." he said in a stern, hard voice. "If you want to continue breathing, don't even think about it."

But they were too lost in their moment of fun to let his unyielding attitude thwart them. Bishop stood his ground, daring them to try it, an expression of warning on his face. Jaelyn stared back with a resolute look on her own, yet the ranger saw something else in those pale green eyes of hers. Defiance. So, she had the guts to stand up to him, did she? Then he would have to teach her a lesson.

Jaelyn stood up from the stream, grabbed her canteen off of the ground and advanced on him, and all of it was done without breaking the stare between them.

There was steel in her eyes, a will in her to rival his own. It was attractive, alluring and disconcerting that she did not fear him, where fear would've been well-placed.

They stood only a few paces apart now, still wrapped up in a staring competition. Jaelyn held the canteen in her hand. Her other twisted off the top. She never looked away, but her mouth curved into a smile. He smiled, too.

"I'm warning you, girl." he said. "You do it and you're going to be sorry."

Her smile widened.

Jaelyn's hand, the one holding the canteen, moved fast, but Bishop's was faster. He grabbed her at the wrist, twisted it until she feared he'd break it. Then in one swift, fluid move, he yanked her around in a circle with her back to his chest, bringing that arm around to hold it there at the small of her back. Jaelyn let out a startled sound and wiggled in his grasp. A little twist of her arm stilled any further attempt to escape.

"Unhand me!" she exclaimed in outrage.

Bishop yanked the canteen out of her hand with a nasty grin and then turned its contents over on her head. Jaelyn squealed as water dribbled down her face and neck, slid down the front of her tunic and drenched the top of it. The ranger pulled the strap of her canteen over her head and then gave her a rough shove her forward.

"Maybe next time you'll listen."

Jaelyn spun around, glaring at him, her hands clenched into fists at her sides.

"You're going to pay for that!"

Bishop rose a brow. "Threats? Really?" He shook his head. "You're too bold for your own good."

"I'm not afraid of you!"

He shrugged. "You should be."

"Uh, guys," Quin said, butting in. "It's getting dark. Maybe we should head back to camp. You know, we still need to find some firewood and I'm sure one of you will have to find us something to eat. Let's get moving."

"Fine by me." said Bishop.

He turned and began trekking through the brush in a southerly direction, back towards the beach.

Jaelyn stood there for a moment, breathing heavily in her anger as she glared daggers into his back. A small hand on her arm brought her gaze downward to Quin, who smiled up at her.

"Come on."

**xxxxxxxxxx**

Out of the two rangers, it was Bishop who insisted on going out to hunt for their dinner. Mostly, this was because the memory of the drow downing a large stag from two hundred yards away with her bow while he gave an old rabbit a heart attack was still too close and the wound to his pride was still fresh, despite the fact that that had happened well over a tenday ago. A man never forgets a thing like that and he would stop at nothing to make sure it never happened again.

Jaelyn was still a little worked up from what had happened in the forest, so she was in no mood for hunting in any case, unless the prey happened to be some smart-ass ranger.

Jaelyn and Quin had gone out first to gather the firewood they would need and returned a short time later, both of them carrying an armload of wood.

Night was approaching fast. The sun had disappeared behind the trees in the west, but there was still a deep orange glow to the sky. At the east, in the direction of the mainland, the sky was a cloudless, velvety purple and tiny stars were just winking to life against the firmament. It was going to be a clear, beautiful night.

While Jaelyn and Quin stacked the wood, Bishop disappeared into the forest. The half-drow looked up and watched his sturdy form melt into the darkness of the trees. It was a little startling, like the forest had swallowed him.

She shook her head and rummaged through her pack for her flint and steel, and then she bent to the wood that had been stacked into an impressive pyramid. She struck off sparks into the dried leaves that were serving as tender. After a moment, the leaves began smoking and a small flame blossomed to life. Jaelyn fanned it and blew into it gently, giving it even more life and soon the wood caught.

There was a sudden strange, collective groaning sound coming from the forest that drew Jaelyn and Quin's gazes in that direction. It was a strange sound, almost as if a lot of somethings out there were in pain at the same moment. What was even more odd was the fact that it sounded like it was coming from above, along the treetops, yet there was nothing up there. There was also an unnameable smell in the air, something hot and menacing that made Jaelyn's nose itch, but it was a faint odor, only discernible by those with a keen sense of smell.

"What was that?" Quin asked.

The two exchanged a glance. Jaelyn shrugged.

They went about laying out their bed rolls a good distance from the campfire and vainly tried to keep sand off of it. The thing about sand was that when it showed up somewhere, you could never get rid of it. Sand was nature's version of that annoying, uninvited guest that refused to leave.

Jaelyn, after ordering Quin to turn his back, slipped into her thin, white shirt and skirt, which felt a thousand times more better than that awful, thick leather armor. Of course, since she had been doused in the sea earlier and recently in a stream, all of her belongings had gotten wet, so she had to dry her garments out in the sun on a stone.

There was a nice breeze that was easily felt through the thin fabric. The downside was that the gritty sand was going to stick to her legs and would undoubtedly find its way into her undergarments, as sand was known to do. She had a bad feeling she was going to wake up tomorrow to find the stuff wedged in very uncomfortable places.

When she settled on her bed roll, her legs tucked under her, she grabbed a small stick out of the fire and poked the logs idly, while Quin stared, as if hypnotized, into the flames. After a moment, he yawned and turned his head to gaze at the darkness of the forest.

"What's keeping him?"

Jaelyn gave the woods a fleeting look and then shrugged.

Thirty minutes trudged passed and Quin looked up at her again and then at the forest.

"I wonder if he got lost."

"We can only hope." Jaelyn replied, tartly.

Quin simpered. "Come on, you don't mean that."

She looked up at him across the fire. "Care to make a wager on it?"

"But I thought..." the halfling paused to chose his words carefully. "Well, you know, that you..."

The drow knew what he meant. She shook her head. "Maybe before when I thought he might have a decent bone in his body. I've changed my mind."

_Have you, really?_ spoke a little voice behind her eyes and between her ears. _I bet you're lying to yourself._

She tried to ignore it, setting her green eyes on the flaming logs, poking them again with her stick.

_Come on, Jaelyn, you know you're a little worried about him. This is a strange place with only the gods know what out there. There are probably all manners of vicious monsters. He could get eaten by something._

She inwardly huffed. _It would serve him right if he did._

"The jerk can take care of himself." she inadvertently spoke aloud and then snapped her mouth shut as she looked up at Quin, expecting a look of confusion staring back at her. Instead, the halfling had a thoughtful expression on his boyish face.

"I suppose he can." he replied. "Still, he has been gone an awful long time. How long does it usually take to hunt something?"

_Not this long_, that voice said to her. _Something's wrong; you feel it. It may be bad. He could be hurt, or worse._

Whatever that annoying voice was, it prompted her to do the right thing, even if she would regret it later.

With a dreadful sigh, Jaelyn reached for her boots and began pulling them on, trying desperately to ignore the halfling's knowing look and happy grin.

"I thought you'd changed your mind?"

"Oh, shut up."

With her boots laced up, she stood up from her bed roll and looked down at the halfling as she straightened her skirt.

"You stay here." she said. "I'll go see if I can find him."

She began trekking toward the woods when Quin called to her.

"Aren't you going to need light?"

Jaelyn smirked and shook her head, disappearing beyond the trees.

The drow, even those born upon the surface, had excellent night vision. In the dark, their sight changed into an infrared scope, which picked up on body heat. If it was alive, or at least if it had died very recently, Jaelyn would see it.

She noticed her problem the moment she set her eyes into the forest. There seemed to be body heat every where and there were red shapes all over her vision. It stung her eyes to look at them. What was startling about it, other than that there were so many, was the fact that the heat was coming from no human source, but from the trees. All the infrared shapes were long and tall, towering high above her. The trees were alive, and not in the sense that plants are classified as living, but immobile parts of life. These trees were actually alive, very likely breathing, no matter how immobile they were presently.

Jaelyn walked quietly and softly through the brush, ignoring the feel of plants brushing up against her legs. A small part of her mind hoped none of it was poison ivy, oak, or sumac.

She scanned the black woods for any human shapes and finally located one.

Jaelyn's heart lurched.

The shape was man-sized, lifted slightly away from the ground and it struggled with something around its neck. There was a dim red glowing cord coming down from one of the trees and was wrapped around the human shape's neck. She knew without a doubt that it was the ranger. It had to be. There was no one else out there, and even if it wasn't him, the person was still in desperate need of help.

Jaelyn set out into a run, leaping over ridiculously large ferns and bushes, getting her skirt caught up in grabbing limbs or poking thorns. Her legs were getting abused as well and she had no doubt that she was going to be all scratched up after this.

She stumbled over a red-glowing shrub just as she reached the red human shape and there was an ominous sound of agitation from the ground. Jaelyn tried desperately not to think about the fact that she had just tread on a living, breathing plant specimen. This island was incredibly strange.

Jaelyn shifted her vision from the infrared spectrum so she could see the face of the human before her. She immediately recognized the handsome, angular features. Her gaze was then drawn to the strong vine wrapped around his throat. His fingers were stuck between the vine and his neck in a desperate effort to keep the thing from strangling him.

"Gods..."

He tried to speak but the only thing that came out was a strangled sound.

"Hang on!" Jaelyn said and flinched at her choice of wording.

She quickly searched him for his dagger since she had left hers at camp. She found it on his belt, unsheathed it and slashed the vine away, grabbing a hold of him under one arm. The tree groaned in something that sounded like a cross between pain and rage.

Jaelyn failed to consider the fact that Bishop was a lot bigger and weighed a lot more than her. She was promptly floored under his weight. With a bit of luck, he didn't land on top of her.

She scrambled to his side as he lay there and coughed for air.

"Easy." she told him. "Slow, deep breaths. Are you...all right?"

Slowly, he sat up, ignoring the vertigo and looked up at the vine that had nearly strangled him before he set his golden gaze on her.

"Perfect." he croaked, winced and then cleared his throat.

"You really gave me a scare there." she said, softly.

He shot her a mocking smile. "I didn't know you cared."

Jaelyn frowned, unappreciative of the sarcasm.

"You could've died, you idiot."

"Could have." he emphasized. "But I didn't."

She scoffed at him. "You might have if I hadn't come when I did. I saved your life."

He gave her a bitter look, hating the fact that she had just saved his life and that she had the nerve to go and point it out to him. He was going to do what he had to to forget about it. He loathed the idea of being in someone's debt. He was already in that position with someone else and he definitely didn't want to have to owe something to another person.

"And don't think that means I owe you anything." he said, angrily. "I've saved yours."

Jaelyn couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"I didn't do it to make you owe me." she hissed at him. "I did it because you could've died. The least you could do is thank me for it instead of insisting that I did it as some kind of favor."

She got nothing of the sort.

Jaelyn shook her head at him in anger. "Ungrateful bastard."

She stood up away from him, scowling. Bishop waited for her to say something more, another biting insult or remark, but her face contorted into an expression of slight hurt and disappointment. Then she shook her head and left him there.

Some how, some way, and by some great miracle that gave him a moments worth of humanity, Bishop felt kind of guilty. But only a little and as soon as the feeling was felt, it was gone.


	6. Chapter 6: Feral

**xxxxxx**

* * *

**Chapter Six:**

**Feral**

**xxxxxx**

**When** dawn breached the night, Jaelyn arose out of the Land of Nod to find that for once, she had made it to consciousness before her other two companions.

She sat up on her bed roll, stretched and looked out across the gently churning ocean. A small crescent of orange light straddled the horizon, painting it in soft shades of yellow and gold with a bit of pink mixed into the depths. The vault of the sky was fading from that star-decked, black velvet into hues of gray, blue and lavender.

It was the type of sunrise that would make landscape painters snap their paintbrushes in envy and have poets stand about scratching their heads in silence. It was beautiful and breath-taking beyond anything paint on canvas could ever produce or skillfully woven words could describe.

It was strangely quiet and peaceful, the only sounds being those belonging to nature.

Jaelyn had never cared much for civilization as a whole (or even in small pieces), but out here, she could feel its absence. She didn't know whether she missed it or not. It felt strange, that was for sure. She kept expecting farmers or something to burst out of the woods, wielding pitch-forks and shovels, and shouting her heritage at her. It was an unsettling feeling when she looked back at those woods and no such thing happened. She was a little confused as to why she was disappointed that there wasn't a mob out there trying to kill her.

Then there were the trees. They were eerie things, those trees. Last night, they had been groaning, as if in pain and, of course, she hadn't forgotten the fact that Bishop had nearly been strangled by a vine.

Those trees were alive, that much she understood, and as mentioned before, the term alive meant exactly that, that those trees and possibly even a few shrubs and other miscellaneous flora were actually living, breathing, and intelligent, which was an alarming actuality. She'd heard of dryads before and in her travels, she'd actually come across one, and she'd considered the possibility that the trees having such...personality was probably due to the fact that one of the sylvan creatures, or possibly many of them, were dwelling in them. Or the trees might be ents, though if they were ents, she figured they would be moving around a bit more than they were. And, as of yet, they had seen no dryads. Still, one couldn't rule out all possibilities.

Jaelyn preferred to think it was dryads or ents out there than the actual trees and plants possessing enough intelligence and sentience to groan in pain and attempt murder. The thought made her shiver.

The air still had that hot, menacing smell to it, faint but offensive. It was a scent that induced apprehension, a scent of malice. It was intimidating and threatening, as if it were a warning in the air.

Jaelyn quietly pulled her boots on then stood up from her bed roll, stretching once more, and decided to go into the woods, despite the events of last night and the warning in the air. She had remembered from their first trek through the wood that there was a patch of blueberry shrubs in a small clearing about less than a mile away. And considering they had all missed out on dinner last night for obvious reasons, Jaelyn thought it a good idea to pick them something to eat for breakfast, and perhaps hunt something as well if she happened to come across anything worth eating.

The short journey to the clearing was peaceful. The trees were silent, yet still maintaining that very tall and looming demeanor. There was a light breeze weaving through the forest, carrying with it the salty scent of the ocean, and leaves rustled quietly on swaying limbs. Other than that leafy sound, there were no other noises to be heard. It was eerily silent. She didn't even hear any birds, and birds were notorious for their spirited morning twittering. There was nothing, not so much as a chirp. And actually, as Jaelyn thought about it, she hadn't recalled seeing any birds on the island yet, not in the trees (which really wasn't surprising, if one considered the fact of the trees being alive and having a tendency to get violent) or flitting about in the sky. It was very strange.

The drow located the blueberry shrubs, nestled together comfortably in their little patch. She bent down and reached out a tentative hand to pick one of the berries. She was uncertain if this particular shrub was 'alive' or not. Smiling slightly, she let her fingers touch the leaves first, caressing them in a soothing fashion.

She then looked around herself to make sure no one was watching. It was more of a cautionary act. As far as she knew, she and her companions were the only ones on the island. However, that damn ranger had a tendency to appear during those distressingly convenient moments when there was a chance of her getting 'caught in the act' and becoming embarrassed or flustered. She was about to have one of those distressingly convenient moments.

Satisfied that there was no one around, she looked back down at the shrub and and smiled again.

"Would you mind if I picked your berries?" she asked the plant, which listened with shrub-like interest. "You see, my friends and I missed dinner last night and we're a little hungry."

There was no objection from the plant; it just sat there.

"Good." she spoke again with a smile. "I was hoping you wouldn't respond."

Between her ears came the voice of Sanity.

_You do know you're talking to a shrub, right? I think this is a bad sign that I'm on my way out._

Jaelyn knelt down on her knees, created a neat little fold in her skirt and began picking blueberries contentedly. There was nothing as peaceful as foraging.

Jaelyn thrust her hands into the depths of the shrub...and something furry brushed her hand. She jerked back with a slight gasp and peered between the foliage. Two large, yellow, slit-pupil eyes stared back at her from deep within the blueberry shrub. There was a soft, pained chittering sound coming from the shrub that was heart-wrenching to hear. Whatever it was, it was hurt.

Jaelyn reached in gently for the creature and her hands slipped into thick, silken fur. It was bigger than she thought.

When she was finally able to pull it out, she found herself staring into a dark brown, beige-stripped, furry face that was almost sickeningly adorable. Jaelyn had never seen an animal like this one before. It was a cross between a cat and a bear cub. It had the yellow, almond-shaped eyes, whiskers, long tail, and retractable claws of a cat and the size, stance, thick fur, long snout and rounded ears of a bear cub. It looked at her with its pitiful, glistening yellow eyes and won her heart immediately.

Jaelyn's face broke out into a wide grin. "What manner of creature are you?"

It responded with a small wailing sound that had the same effect on Jaelyn as the harrowing cry of a baby might have on its mother.

She cradled the animal and searched it for any injuries. There was a small, but obviously painful pebble wedged in the padding of its paws. It was bleeding a bit, but nothing serious. Jaelyn reached for it, but the animal jerked away with a whimper. There was a perfect expression of fear on its sweet face. Jaelyn rocked it gently against her in a comforting manner, as one might do an upset infant, and made soft shooshing noises to it. After a moment, the expression was gone and now it just looked worried.

Jaelyn reached down again and yanked the pebble out swiftly in an effort to minimize the pain. The creature moaned and held its paw out limply. The drow sat the creature down and for a moment, it simply stood there on its hind legs, considering her and then it looked down at its paw as if suddenly realizing something. Its tail began to move in a side to side frenzy and without warning, it leaped on her and covered her face in vigorous licks of appreciation. It had a rough tongue like a cat.

Jaelyn laughed and tried vainly to push the animal back. It seemed to be very grateful to her for removing its suffering.

Finally, it stopped drenching her face in saliva and merely rubbed its furry face against her chest. Smiling, Jaelyn gave it a caress and then got to her feet, holding the fold in her skirt up so she didn't spill her blueberries.

She figured the animal would go off on its business now, but the animal had other plans.

Jaelyn spotted a few apples on the ground beneath an apple tree and went to investigate their ripeness and if they were especially deficient of worms or other insects. She saw that she was immediately being followed.

The drow glanced down at the cat-bear creature and was startled to find it grinning at her. The animal was quite intelligent, it seemed, for not many animals could muster human expression this adeptly.

"All right, you're cute and friendly. I get that." she said to it. "But you can't follow me around. Go on, now."

Jaelyn bent to pick up an apple and was further surprised when the animal reached down and picked it up for her between its paws and gestured it to her.

She gaped and after a moment, took the proffered fruit.

"Uh...thanks."

It grinned again.

"You're quite smart, aren't you?" she said. "Do you understand me?"

Its response was that deep chittering sound, which seemed to come from the very depths of the creature's being, because when it rubbed against her leg, it was vibrating with the sound, almost like a cat's purr.

She couldn't resist giving the cute little thing another caress behind the ears. It chittered more violently and its body was nearly convulsing in delight.

Jaelyn collected a few more apples and then headed back for their camp. She had a bad feeling she was going to be followed.

"Look, you can't come with me." she told it. "I'm sorry."

She kept on walking. The animal stood there a moment, its head leaning to one side and then it bounded after her on all fours until it reached her side. It stood up on its hind legs, like a bear, and walked contentedly beside her.

"This isn't going to work out."

It made a pleading noise and pressed against her leg again.

The drow looked down at it and sighed. How could she refuse that face?

"All right," she gave in miserably. When it came to wretchedly adorable animals in need of rescue, she just couldn't help but turn into pudding. "But just for now."

When Jaelyn and her new companion reached the edge of the forest, she caught sight of smoke coming from the direction of their camp and guessed that the other two were up and about now.

She made her way down to the beach, seeing Quin and Bishop sitting at the campfire that had been lit. Something was roasting on it and there was that maddening, delicious aroma of cooking meat.

The creature struggled to keep up with her longer strides and when Jaelyn finally reached the camp and stopped, the little bugger ran right into her legs with a squeak.

Bishop was the first to look up and the first thing he noticed, of course, was the creature peering around Jaelyn's leg. There was a very nonplussed look on the ranger's face.

"What in the Nine Hells is _that_?"

Jaelyn glanced behind herself and then brought her gaze around to him again with a slight smirk. "What in the Nine Hells is what?"

He gave her a thin look of reproach.

Jaelyn's face broke out into a grin as she scratched behind her ear and dug the toe of her boot into the sand innocently.

Quin watched the creature eye them with something between wariness and curiosity.

"Cute." he noted. "Where did it come from?"

"I found it hiding in a blueberry shrub." said Jaelyn. "It was injured."

"And you just had to go and save it." said the ranger, caustically.

The drow glowered at him. "Shut your mouth."

Bishop was undoubtedly about to reply with some cutting barb, but Quin interrupted him before he could get to it.

"What is it?" the halfling asked. "I've never seen an animal like that before."

Jaelyn shrugged and looked down at the cat-bear like creature rubbing its face against her leg. "Neither have I...until now."

Bishop gave it an uninterested and slightly disgusted look. He was not a fan of anything with the potential for being sickeningly cute and lovable. His brain never hesitated as it filed the creature away under his _Repertoire of Contemptuous Things_. The animal would now be properly ignored and kicked often if it got in his way.

"Just keep it away from me." he warned and went back to his task of turning the roasting cony on its stick.

Jaelyn rolled her eyes and sat down beside Quin. The creature plopped down in the sand between them. Quin looked at it with a grin and then reached over to scrub under its chin. It made that chittering sound of gratitude and pressed its face more deeply into the halfling's hand.

"I think it likes me."

Jaelyn smiled, tucked her legs beneath her and looked down at the fruit in her skirt.

"Well," she said. "Other than finding a new pet, I also found some blueberries and a couple of apples while I was out. Anyone interested?"

"I'll have an apple." Quin opted. "I don't care for blueberries."

Jaelyn passed him an apple. Unfortunately, the animal snatched it out of her hand before the halfling could get it and began chewing into it noisily. The two looked at it in surprise.

"I guess it's hungry." the halfling said.

"We could always feed you to it." remarked the ranger.

Jaelyn threw a blueberry at his face.

To her surprise, Bishop caught it adeptly, studied it in his palm for a moment (he was making sure it wasn't actually something poisonous) and then popped it into his mouth.

"Thanks, drow." he said, grudgingly.

Jaelyn desperately fought off the urge to send a skirt full of blueberries in his face this time.

_Let the smug bastard catch that._

She held back. It would've been a terrible waste of a perfectly good breakfast.

Jaelyn sat in silence for a moment and ate her blueberries. They were astonishingly sweet and juicy. She'd never tasted a more delicious blueberry in her life; it was perfect, the blueberries of all blueberries. It was nearly orgasmic, not that she knew what an orgasm was. But she was making sounds as if she were having one.

"Mmm...Oh, Gods...that's good..." she moaned, her eyes half-lidded in pleasure.

"Are you sitting on something, drow?" commented Bishop in a suggestive tone.

She blinked at him in confusion. "Huh?"

He smirked faintly and shook his head. "Forget it."

He and the halfling exchanged a glance as Jaelyn went back to eating her blueberries with a dreamy smile.

Quin grinned.

**xxxxxxxxxx**

After breakfast, they prepared themselves for a serious trek through the woods this time. They had found a source of food and a source of water, now it was time they explored the island for possible threats and possible allies.

They knew of one threat already and that was the plantlife and they knew of one species of animal that wasn't harmful and that was whatever Jaelyn's new companion was. Whether it was bear or cat, or both, it seemed completely harmless and more like something that could be easily domesticated.

"Have you thought of a name for it?" Quin asked Jaelyn as they trudged through the wilderness, lead by the ranger. One of these days, Jaelyn was going to take the lead, whether Bishop liked it or not.

"I've been thinking of a few..."she replied. "None of them very good."

"Let's hear them."

"Um...Feral." she said.

Quin smiled. "Kind of contradictory, isn't it?"

"That's the point...I think."

"And the others?"

"I've always liked the name Darmon."

"Sounds too pompous."

"How about...Bevil?"

"That sounds like something you'd name an ox." the halfling said with a laugh. "A particularly dumb ox."

"The only other one I can think of is Dahlia, and only because I like the flower."

Quin shook his head. "I think you should name it Feral. It's fitting somehow. Probably because it's ironic."

Jaelyn nodded with a smile and looked down at the creature walking between her and the halfling.

"Feral it is, then."

Ten miles of forest later, they came to a very large clearing with some kind of old stone ruins protruding from the ground. The stone structure was moss and ivy covered, and it seemed to have been some kind of small building before its demise. There was a cracked threshold and then a small window above it, carved out of the stone. The roof was completely gone, leaving behind a jagged rim over the top of the building. It looked strange, as if something had ripped the roof off instead of it just caving in from time or perhaps some battle long ago. Off to the right side, there was a small stone fence with many different sized stone slabs inside of it, spaced apart. It was a graveyard.

"A temple?" Jaelyn wondered aloud.

Quin shook his head. "Too small-"

"And I don't see any holy symbols any where on the structure. You usually see those all over temples." the ranger added.

The drow tapped her chin, thoughtfully. "Maybe it's just a chapel, then."

"What ever it is," Quin added. "It doesn't look like it had been a very nice place. Look, I think I see a sacrificial altar through that doorway."

Jaelyn gave him a dubious look. "How can you tell it's sacrificial?"

Quin's face went grim. "There's blood stains on it."

"Oh, wonderful." groaned the drow.

"Let's check it out." suggested Bishop.

The trio-along with a cat-bear named Feral-approached the ruins tentatively, keeping their senses perked for trouble. The threshold was smaller up close and the ranger had to duck his head when he went in first. Jaelyn followed and Quin brought up the rear, casting a look over his shoulder as he felt the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end.

Something moved out there in the woods.

The halfling blinked, but when he looked again there was nothing. He had sworn he'd seen a shadow move against the trees a few yards to the right of the ruins. He shrugged it off and blamed it on his imagination.

Inside the chapel, the trio looked around curiously. There were some old stone benches on either side of the chapel that were cracked and covered in ivy. They moved up the small aisle and came to the altar Quin had seen. It was indeed stained in blood; some stains looked centuries old and others fresh, and there was also a stone bowl in front of it, stained a rusty crimson. Bishop bent over it, ran a finger along the inside and then inspected it close, rubbing his thumb and index finger together.

"There's been a recent sacrifice." he noted.

Jaelyn's eyes went wide. "Then that means there must be people on this island."

He only nodded.

Quin was standing behind the altar, his back to the other two as he stared upward at the wall. He saw something, some kind of etching in the stone underneath the ivy growing up from the cracks in the stone floor, but he was too short to reach up and brush it aside.

"Hey, guys," he said, looking over his shoulder. "There's something here."

Jaelyn approached him, Feral following behind her, keeping close. Jaelyn followed Quin's pointing finger and reached up to tear the ivy off the wall. Underneath the clinging vines was that missing holy symbol. Jaelyn gave a small gasp and stumbled away until the small of her back hit the altar.

"I'd hoped to never see that in my lifetime."

"What is it?" Quin asked.

"Lolth's symbol." she replied. "A spider with the head of a drow woman." She looked grimly at her companions. "There are drow here, or at least there were."

"That explains the sacrifices." Bishop said.

Jaelyn shook her head with a frown. "I don't like this."

Feral rubbed against Jaelyn's leg, soothingly, sensing her anxiety. Jaelyn looked down at it with a small, grateful smile and gave its furry face a scruff.

The halfling looked up at the symbol again and a grin came over his face. "Hey, you think those are real rubies used for the eyes?"

Jaelyn shrugged. "Maybe. I suppose it really doesn't matter, Quin. They're embedded well in that stone."

"Damn."

The ranger moved up to inspect it himself, but came to a halt when there was an unexpected metallic sound in his step.

Jaelyn and Quin turned their heads in his direction and Bishop frowned down at his feet in puzzlement. He brought his foot down on the ground again.

_Clunk._

He knelt down, unsheathed his dagger and began slicing away the ivy that had crawled across the ground over time. He uncovered a trapdoor made of metal. There was a large ring on it where it could be pulled open, but it was chained and padlocked. All of it was rusted.

Bishop lifted the lock, gave it an experimental yank and then dropped it again with another loud clunk.

"What ever it is," he said. "We're not getting into it."

Quin gave him a smug smirk and hurried over. "Don't be too sure. You've got an excellent lock-picker for a companion. Let's have a look-see..."

The halfling picked up the pad lock and studied it for a long moment, 'hmm'ing and 'huh'ing every few seconds.

Bishop eyed him impatiently. "Can you pick it or not?"

"Well..."

Quin trailed off as he lifted the lock for a closer inspection, his brow creased in concentration. The ranger's question went unanswered for about fifteen minutes.

Meanwhile, Jaelyn was looking up at the holy symbol carved in the wall, frowning at it hotly. If there was anything she hated in all the world, it was this. She hated Lolth with a passion. She hated what she stood for, hated that she was the goddess of the drow, and hated the drow for following her. The drow were the way they were because they worshiped her.

Jaelyn wondered about something. She cocked her head to the side, staring up at the spider symbol in thought. Then she shifted her gaze to the other two.

"If this is some kind of temple to Lolth," she began. Quin was too engrossed in figuring out how to pick the lock to put his attention on her, but the ranger looked up, having grown bored waiting on Quin. "Then that means, as I said before, that there are drow here...some where."

"So?"

Jaelyn shrugged. "Well, what're they doing here? And how did they get here? They would've had to come up from the Underdark, some how get their hands on a boat and sail all the way to this island. Drow don't do that. When they come up from the Underdark, it's only to kill, as you have often pointed out."

"Maybe they heard about the treasure as well." said Bishop in a very sarcastic fashion.

Jaelyn frowned at him. "Don't be a smart-ass, Bishop, it's very unbecoming."

"As unbecoming as being a drow?"

Her frown deepened and she crossed her arms over her chest in defense. Beside her, Feral sensed her distress, turned its fuzzy face toward Bishop, narrowed those yellow, slit-pupil eyes, and let out a growl.

Jaelyn looked down at it in surprise and with a small smile.

Bishop was not amused.

"If that thing tries to attack me, I'm going to kill it, I'm just warning you now."

Jaelyn shot him a glacial look. There was a sinister warning in her eyes; he knew she had it in her, that dark, mean streak. Her heritage was showing through. One could never escape who they are, what they are, that was something the ranger knew too well.

"You'll go through me first." Jaelyn growled at him, her voice not her own. "And I swear to the gods, you won't last two seconds with me."

Quin paused in his study of the lock and looked over his shoulder at Jaelyn, who was practically fuming before his eyes. He could almost picture the steam coming out of her ears.

"Jae..."

"What?" she snarled, not taking her flaming green eyes off the ranger.

"Uh..." Quin swallowed and wiped his brow. "Are you all right? You sound...different."

Jaelyn finally tore her angry eyes away from Bishop and looked down at Quin. Those green eyes immediately softened back to normal.

"Do I?" she replied with a smile the halfling didn't like. It was a confident smile, but that darkness still lingered in it. "I was merely letting him know what will befall him if he tries anything."

"Oh, really?" the ranger snapped. "Go on, then, show me what's going to befall me. I can't wait to see this."

Without so much as blinking, Jaelyn drew her dagger and advanced. The ranger straightened to face the threat, unruffled and slightly amused with her moxie. Quin sighed and sprang up between them, making Jaelyn halt in her stride.

"You two have got to stop this." Quin demanded, solemnly. "How far do you both think we're going to get if you're constantly at each others' throat? I'm sick of having to say this: you both need to learn to get along, or at the very least, learn to argue less violently."

"I'm sick and tired of him insulting me for my heritage!" she shouted angrily. "I'm not going to take it anymore."

"Oh, so now you bother to defend yourself." remarked the ranger with a roll of his eyes.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jaelyn shot back, hands on her hips.

"You let everyone else run you off, wear you down, yet the moment I do it, you suddenly get a spine."

"That's because when you do it-"

She bit her tongue. She was not about to tell this arrogant, self-centered, sarcastic man, who'd been one of the only two people to not outright shun her, that when he insulted her, it hurt a lot more than when anyone else did it, and for the exact reason that he had not shunned her, even if it was just because he didn't care about people in general; it was still nice to be considered and lumped in with general people when the rest of the world considered you unnatural.

Bishop stared at her, a brow quirked and made a proceeding gesture with his hand. "Yeah?"

Jaelyn frowned and shook her head. "Just forget it."

"Fine."

He looked down at Quin with a hard expression. "Are you going to pick that lock or gawk at us?"

Quin made a rather childish face at him. "I don't know. It depends on whether or not you two are going to call a truce. I don't want to have to referee the both of you again."

The ranger shrugged. "I don't do truces. I might consider refraining, but that depends on whether or not the drow gets foolishly bold again."

Quin looked up at Jaelyn, who was seething in Bishop's direction. "Jae?"

She growled. "Fine!"

"Good, now that that's settled..." Quin said and bent back down to the rusted padlock and began working on it.

Jaelyn glared at the ranger and then turned away, looking back at the Lolth symbol on the wall while Feral stood at her side and nudged her hand lovingly. It kept a distrustful eye on Bishop and let out a menacing growl again. The drow soothed her hand through its fur and made a shushing noise. Feral quieted but it still had that look in its eye. Bishop thought it was a particularly intimidating look for an animal, and for a normally cute animal at that. Not many adorable creatures could pull off a threatening look, but that bear-cat, or cat-bear, or what ever in the Nine Hells it was, was pulling it off quite well. He wondered briefly just how far it would go to protect the drow and what it was truly capable of if it ever decided to attack. It didn't look very dangerous. It had fangs and retractable claws, but those were the only weapons he could see. It would probably be no more dangerous than a domesticated cat.

Quin tinkered around with the padlock for a few more moments, using his lock-picks, wiggling them about inside the lock. A little twist, a turn, a small jiggle here and a jerk there and the padlock clicked out of place.

"There we are." the halfling announced with a broad smile. "No problem."

"Took you long enough." remarked Bishop.

Quin shot him a look. "Lock-picking is a delicate procedure. It shouldn't be rushed."

The ranger rolled his eyes in response.

Quin unhooked the padlock from the chains, and then he unwrapped the chains from around the ring and the hook in the floor.

The halfling got to his feet, grabbed a hold of the ring and then lifted.

The door didn't move, didn't even creak on its rusty hinges.

He tried again, mustering all the strength in his tiny, child-like body and failed. The trapdoor was much too heavy for him to lift.

"You two try." Quin said, trying to catch his breath. "It's far too heavy for me."

Jaelyn and Bishop stood over the trapdoor. The drow spit in one palm and then rubbed her hands together, earning a disgusted look from the ranger.

She shrugged. "What? It gives you a better grip."

They both reached down and took hold of the ring, their hands touching, briefly-though both made damn sure they didn't focus on the fact for long-and then lifted the door.

The large, rusted, metal slab opened, revealing a dark hole. They let the door fall back with a bang loud enough to wake the dead. Jaelyn cringed, remembering the little graveyard nearby.

She and Quin knelt at the hole and peered down it, curiously. Feral wedged between them to look down into the hole as well. Jaelyn scrunched her nose up, as there was a very moldy, decaying smell coming up from the abyss.

"Smells like a tomb." she noted.

Quin nodded in agreement. "I wonder how far down it goes."

Bishop stood over them and dropped a stone down the hole. A few seconds later-about seven of them to be precise-they heard a soft _thunk_ as the stone struck the bottom.

"That far."

"And how far would you say that was?" Quin asked, looking up at the ranger.

He shrugged. "Fifteen feet, maybe more."

Jaelyn considered it. "It's not that deep. I mean, we could all use the wall in getting down. It's compact enough to put your back up to one side and your feet on the other, and move down it."

"Getting down isn't the problem," Bishop replied. "It's getting back up again."

Jaelyn tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Well...maybe we could get some vines and make a rope, and then we can-"

"No way in the hells." the ranger cut her off. "Unless you and the half-man do it. I'm not touching any plant life out here ever again. That shit out there is alive. It's intelligent."

Jaelyn nodded. "I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed that."

"Why would you think you were? After all, it nearly killed me."

"It's strange." she continued. "The trees seem like they're staring at us...and hating us. They aren't ents, I know that much. Weilsung used to tell me stories about them and these trees don't sound like the stories. They don't have faces in their bark and there are far too many of them. Ents are usually only a handful in number in an entire forest, but out here...it's like every tree is alive."

"It's probably some kind of magic. Didn't that map mention something about it?"

She nodded. "It did. Still, I don't like it. The air has a green tint to it. Have you noticed that? And there's a bad scent. It's very faint, but I can still smell it. It smells like..."

"Anger." Bishop finished, grimly. "It's like they're all pissed about something."

Jaelyn nodded in agreement. That was exactly what the smell was: anger. The trees were angry, but about what, she couldn't even venture a guess. Maybe it was the crowded living conditions, or being forced to live with foreigner trees who had no right to be in their climate in the first place and who were cheating native trees out of their shading duties. It was shameful for the natives.

"So," Quin said, interrupting her thoughts. "We're not going down there, then?"

"We'll have to find rope first." Jaelyn said. "And I'm kind of with Bishop on staying away from the trees and plants. It would probably be unwise to anger them any further."

"But...where are we going to find rope?" the halfling inquired, looking between the two tall folk for an answer.

He got a shrug from the drow and nothing but an irritated look from the human.

Quin sighed. "I was looking forward to exploring the hole. What if there's treasure down there?"

"You want to go down there, don't let us stop you." said the ranger.

"We haven't even explored all of the island, yet." Jaelyn added. "There are obviously people here, so maybe they have rope."

"But they're drow, or if there's a chance they aren't, they at least worship Lolth, so they're bound to be evil."

Jaelyn sighed.

"Then we'll take it from them."

"We could be outnumbered."

The halfling and the drow argued the possibilities for several minutes, much to Bishop's ire, but then he heard something over their ruckus and looked in the direction of the cat-bear, which was standing up on its hind legs on the altar and growling viciously at the threshold, its retractable claws out, resembling little hooked blades of menace.

He knew what it meant, and didn't like it.

The ranger snapped his head back to the other two, scowling.

"Shut up." he hissed at them. "Now."

Jaelyn was the first to turn her head toward him, her face creased in a defiant, angry expression. He gave her a warning look that she didn't take any heed to.

"Don't you tell me to-"

Bishop clapped a hand over her mouth, put a finger to his lips and gave her a hard, meaningful glare. Jaelyn stared at him in alarm. He pointed to her animal companion and then to the threshold. She understood immediately.

There was something or someone outside the building.

And as if on cue, a voice rose from the outside of the ruins. It was a masculine voice, raised in command and in a language Quin and Bishop didn't understand. However, Jaelyn did.

The trio were huddled back against the left wall, keeping out of sight of the possible enemy. Feral still stood on top of the altar, growling and looking particularly ferocious. It was baring its fangs and salivating in anger. It almost looked rabid.

"He's speaking drow." Jaelyn whispered to the other two.

Quin looked at her. "What's he saying?"

"He said he knows we're in here, we're defiling sacred ground, and we must come out immediately."

"Oh, really? Tell him to fuck off." Bishop said, dryly.

Jaelyn stared at him for a brief moment and then smiled in amusement. "Uh...I'm afraid my drow vocabulary does not include...that word."

"Compromise then." he replied impatiently. "We're not coming out. I know a trap when I see one."

"Trap?"

"Yeah, trap."

"How do you figure?" Quin asked, stealing the words right out of Jaelyn's mouth.

"Are you really that stupid to not see it?" the ranger said not bothering to hide his disdain. "You think they don't got us surrounded? We walk out there and we're dead."

Jaelyn shook her head. "I don't think there's anyone else out there. I think he's alone."

"You're an idiot, then. A soon to be dead idiot, but maybe that's for the best."

She scoffed, indignantly. "Everyone's an idiot who doesn't think and believe as you do, right? Just be quiet."

"Fine." he snapped, angrily. "Go on and walk right into their trap. I could care less. Just don't expect me to follow you."

"I expect nothing but the worst from you."

"Good."

Jaelyn switched places with Quin so that she was standing at the corner near the threshold. She peered around it and to her shock, there was a drow male standing a few yards from the structure. It was the first time she had ever laid eyes on one of her own heritage, or really, half of her heritage. He was short and lithe, and had white hair that stood in every direction on his head. He was dark-skinned, about the same color as coal, maybe a shade lighter, and even from the distance between them, Jaelyn could see that he had pink eyes. They stood out almost as brilliantly as his hair. He was garbed in dark green and brown leathers with a forest green cloak draped over his shoulders, frayed and faded at the hem. There was a bow in his hand and a quiver at his right hip. A sword hung at his left hip. Most likely, he was a scout.

"I demand that you come out of the chapel!" he called out to them in drow once again.

"We meant no harm." Jaelyn replied in the language. "We were only exploring."

There was silence for a few moments. Then: "How do you know the language of my people?"

"Because I am one of your people, half anyway." she replied.

"Half drow? Impossible."

"I assure you that I'm telling the truth." Jaelyn said. "I was born on the surface...to a wood elf."

"That's disgusting." the male drow stated.

Jaelyn drew back from peering around the threshold and leaned back against the wall with a sigh. It seemed every heritage she possessed shunned her. According to society, there was nothing worse than being a drow, but now it seemed even the drow had worsts to compare things to, and apparently, Jaelyn was one of them.

"This is getting far too ridiculous." she mumbled under her breath.

"What?" Quin inquired.

"Nothing."

She looked around the threshold again.

"I don't care what you think." she said in drow. "All I want is your assurance that you're alone."

"I am."

"Those are just words."

"If I wasn't alone, you'd be dead." he replied. "I wouldn't have bothered alerting you to my presence; my men and I would've just stormed the chapel and killed you and your friends."

Jaelyn considered this.

"Good point."

"Indeed."

She turned back to her companions. "He's alone."

"How do you know?" Bishop demanded, not liking or trusting any of it.

"Because if he had any men with him, he wouldn't have stopped to have a conversation; he would've just killed us."

The ranger frowned. "He's lying."

Jaelyn shrugged. "I'm about to find out if you're right or not."

"Huh?"

"I'm going to go out there to talk to him. He seems to not want to fight." she said.

Bishop snorted. "You do that, then. Nice knowing you."

Jaelyn rolled her eyes and looked out at the male drow again.

"I'm coming out." she called to him in their language. "And I will be unarmed. All I want is to talk."

"Very well."

Jaelyn laid her bow on the ground and cast a look at her comrades. "Wish me luck."

"Luck isn't going to save you from your own stupidity, girl." the ranger replied. "And neither am I."

"That's good to hear." Jaelyn shot back, hotly. "I'll remember that the next time I see you hanging from some vines."

He opened his mouth for some biting retort, but she spun on her heel, white hair thrashing behind her and marched out of the ruins in a flurry of white skirt. Quin took her place at the frame of the threshold, peering out as she approached the other drow.

The male drow and the female half-drow sized one another up with mild interest. Jaelyn, as has been mentioned before, had never seen another drow before, especially no male drow. He had sharp features that she found uncomplimentary and a scar that dented his left cheek.

"I've never seen a half-drow before." he said. "Whatever was one of my kind thinking to mix our blood with a surface elf? Terrible breeding. The features are all wrong. May Lolth curse you and your parents."

Jaelyn frowned. "You're not exactly pleasing to look at yourself."

"That's because you've obviously never set your eyes on a true drow before." he replied with a smug smirk. "You're used to those disgusting surface elves."

She put her hands on her hips. "As a matter of fact, I've never even met a 'surface elf', as you call them. Don't assume things about people."

"You said you were born to a wood elf." he reminded her.

"Yes, I did." she said. "Born to, not raised by."

"Right. In any case, you've trespassed on sacred ground. That's a crime that warrants death."

"Death?" Jaelyn replied in surprise. "But I'm drow and that's a chapel belonging to Lolth. How am I trespassing?"

"Half-drow." he corrected. "And tainted with the blood of a surface elf. You have no right in a holy place of Lolth. Your very presence defiles it."

Behind Jaelyn, Quin watched the conversation unfold beside the threshold, frowning. He sensed the tension; something bad was about to happen.

"I don't like this." he said.

Bishop peered around through the stone threshold with the halfling, narrowed his eyes, and shook his head. "I can't understand a damn word they're saying. I wish they'd stop talking in that language."

"That drow looks angry."

"Which one?"

"Well, Jaelyn does, too, from what I can tell from the back of her head." Quin paused, scratching his neck thoughtfully. "I didn't know the back of a head could look angry, but hers is pulling it off."

"He's going to attack her." the ranger noted, indifferently.

Quin looked up at him with widened eyes. "How do you know?"

"Because I said he would, didn't I?" Bishop snapped. "And she didn't listen. That's usually what happens to people who don't listen to me."

"Well, then we need to save her before he does attack." Quin insisted.

Bishop shrugged. "You go ahead, then. It's her problem. I'm just going to wait back here and practice how I'm going to tell her 'I told you so'. _If_ she survives."

Quin gave him what passed for a mean look for the halfling. It only came out looking weird and slightly disturbing.

Bishop rose a brow in response.

Outside of the chapel, Jaelyn and the drow male argued colorfully, until at last, the male drow tossed down his bow in frustration and anger and drew the sword strapped at his hip.

Quin jumped into action, unsheathing his rapier, but the halfling's quick reflexes had been outmatched by another.

A brown blur zipped across the distance between the altar and the two drow, attaching itself to the male's throat.

"Gods!" Quin exclaimed. "That thing can move!"

Feral-an appropriate name, apparently-sank its fangs and claws into the drow's throat, jerking and pulling at the delicate skin before it burrowed into it in a sickening flourish of blood. Jaelyn stood paralyzed by the spectacle, her eyes wide, and blood spraying into her face.

She was slowly backing away as the drow, who had a perfect look of surprised terror on his ugly face, screamed in agony and tried to remove the vicious creature from his neck and was only successful in furthering its anger. It had a strength and speed to be contended with, and obviously, a homicidal streak to be feared.

Bishop mentally took back everything he'd ever said about the little shit. It may have been small, furry and adorable, but there was a monster underneath that cuteness.

"Now, I wasn't expecting this." he finally remarked.

Quin nodded and then flinched when Feral tore out the drow's larynx with Jaelyn looking on in mute horror.

"We've got a killer teddy bear on our hands."

"I've seen some gory displays in my time. I've even caused a few of them," the ranger commented while watching in fascination as the blood and innards splattered and slung about. "But this by far beats them all."

When Feral abandoned the drow's throat-or now the mushy, gory hole that had once been a throat-for tearing a wide hole open inside his chest, Quin blanched and looked away.

"Ugh. I can't watch anymore."

Bishop leaned back against the threshold to get into a more comfortable position and then smirked faintly. "I could really go for some ale and popcorn right about now."

Quin gave him a revolted look and escaped back into the corner, his back sliding down the wall until he was seated on the floor. With his elbows on his knees, he rested his chin in his hands and sighed. He tried to ignore the sounds of tearing flesh and the moist sounds of entrails being devoured without much success. He felt ill.

Ten minutes later, Feral finished its assault-and feast-on the drow, who was nothing more than a smeared, red pulp and a set of bones on the leaf-carpeted and now blood-stained ground. The animal's brown fur was drenched in blood; its brown hue and beige strips were almost unrecognizable. There were bits of skin, hair, and intestine in its teeth as well as some in its claws.

Feral stood up on its hind legs, walked over to stand beside Jaelyn and began licking its paws clean.

"Guess that drow won't be a problem now." Bishop remarked from behind her.

Jaelyn hardly heard him. It seemed her brain had stopped working. She was still staring, unblinking, in dismay and revulsion at the red mess on the ground a couple of feet away from her. She was covered in the late drow's blood as well, and there was a bit of his liver stuck to her skirt.

"Heeee...frrrraghh...bluh." she muddled.

The ranger peered at her, wondered briefly about her sanity, and then decided that it wasn't worth considering what currently wasn't present.

"What?"

She repeated it perfectly.

"Look, I don't understand drow."

"Heeee...frrrraghh..."

Quin, of a sudden, was at her side, his small hand touching her arm in concern. "Take a breath, Jae."

"Heeee...ffffff..."

"What in the Nine Hells is she trying to say?"

Quin grinned. "I imagine she said 'I have just witnessed a drow being torn apart by a teddy bear...and now I think I'm going to vomit.'"

"You got all that from 'Heeee...ffffff...'?"

The halfling shrugged. "Hells, it's what I'd say if I were in her place."

Quin studied her, scratching his chin thoughtfully. "Why don't you try smacking her on the head?"

Bishop looked at him with a bewildered expression. "Not that I'm not tempted, but what exactly is that going to accomplish?"

"Well, sometimes when you smack people with amnesia on the head, they get their memories back. I doubt this is that much different from amnesia. It's like...what do you call it when you've seen something so traumatizing you're shocked out of your mind? Shell shock?"

"Close enough." Bishop replied. "I think your logic is a little off, however."

Quin spread his hands before him in a helpless gesture. "What? It could work. Go on and try. Just for the hells of it. If it doesn't work, then no harm, no foul, as they say."

The ranger shrugged, lifted his hand, drew it back and paused. He looked down at Feral and recalled what happens to people bold enough to attack its new owner. He promptly decided that he didn't want to end up a red smear on the ground and lowered his hand. Even if he could be prepared for the animal's attacks, he still didn't trust its speed. It looked deceptively slow and he remembered how it had been a blur when it crossed the distance to attack the drow. He inwardly shuddered. Nothing is supposed to be that fast. It's unnatural.

Jaelyn jerked back to reality, turned her head about to look at her companions, her eyes so wide they nearly overtook her face.

"Did you see that?" she cried. "Gods! It-It-It mauled that drow! That little thing right there just tore apart something several times its size!"

Quin laughed and slapped her in the small of her back. "Feral must really like you, then."

Jaelyn merely stood there a moment and then looked down at Feral as it finished cleaning its paws and was now working on its arms. It paused long enough to look up at her, sensing her stare, and perform a grin for her. Its razor-sharp teeth were bloody and bits of skin and entrails were stuck in them.

Jaelyn sighed and then fainted.


	7. Chapter 7: Agreement with a Shadow Thing

**xxxxxx**

* * *

**Chapter Seven:**

**Agreement With A Shadow Thing**

**xxxxxx**

**The** quartet of half-drow, halfling, human, and cat-bear sat around the evening campfire after a particularly unappetizing meal of something that had either been a pheasant or a turkey, or perhaps both. It had been dry and stringy, but it was the only thing out roaming around at the time and was too slow to outrun Bishop. Most animals they had come across since being on the island were very solitary and shied away when confronted with people, which was about normal for almost any animal behavior. However, it seemed that there weren't many animals out there at all, which was odd. So far, they had only seen a rabbit, which they had eaten, a pheasant-turkey thing, which they had also eaten, and Feral, which the trio had no intention of eating, more over for the fact that they knew they'd probably be torn apart if they tried and because Jaelyn was smitten with it, despite it previously mauling a male of her race.

Whatever had been left over from their meal had been given to Feral, who ripped into it ravenously, making Jaelyn cringe as she remembered how it had ripped into that drow's throat in the same manner. It had taken her an hour to get the blood stains out of her skirt and top, as well as out of her hair, where she had also found some entrails. Now she was forced to wear that tight, sweaty, leather armor, which was about as comfortable as having burning sand rubbed all over one's body. She was hot and miserable.

"Well," Quin spoke, breaking the silence. "This has been a strange day."

Jaelyn only nodded.

"I mean," he continued. "Who would've thought our new little friend here was capable of such...such...uh..."

"Savagery?" the human ranger supplied and then thought of an even better word, one he personally approved of. "Carnage?"

Quin looked down at the sleeping cat-bear, curled up into a furry, beige-striped ball in Jaelyn's lap, and nodded. It was no longer covered in drow blood, and it had taken it quite a while to clean itself. It had also thoroughly enjoyed the task, having made some kind of meal out of the blood and other red and pink goop stuck to its fur.

"Yeah." the halfling said. "It certainly was surprising."

"Surprising doesn't even begin to describe what that was." Bishop replied, staring in the fire. There was a faint, reminiscent smirk on his face as he recalled the gory scenes. It had been quite an interesting and entertaining display. "Well, at least the damn thing can be made useful. If we come across any other fools who want to attack us, we can just sic that thing on them."

"He's not a weapon." Jaelyn said with a frown and then stroked Feral, who vibrated in his sleep.

"He?"

The drow nodded. "Yes, he. He's got parts belonging to a male."

Bishop snorted. "I'm surprised you even know what those parts are, being the inexperienced little prude you are."

Jaelyn scoffed. "I'd rather be inexperienced than..." she chose her next words carefully and with a smile. "Venereal-ridden. Is that why that woman was angry with you?"

He rose a brow. "What woman?"

"The one we saw you with at the inn in Port Llast. You know, where we first met. I saw you two come in bickering and then she stormed off." Jaelyn said, still smiling. "What did you do? Pass on something unpleasant?"

Jaelyn saw a flash on anger in his golden gaze and then it was gone, replaced by indifference. She was unsure of the anger's presence, whether it was there because of what she said or if something else had called it up. It was always hard to tell with him; he was near impossible to read and trying to get inside his head was like trying to breach a heavily-guarded fortress.

"Nah, nothing like that." he said in a voice so icy you could've played hockey on it. "She just nearly got me killed...twice. That kind of thing doesn't sit well with me."

Jaelyn's eyes lit up with amusement. "Oh, shame on her, then...for not succeeding."

"Watch yourself, drow." he snapped. "You're starting to get on my bad side and trust me, that's the last place you want to be."

"I fail to see how anyone has a choice." she replied, her tone turning glacial. "You only have the one side."

He snorted. "There you go, thinking you know me."

She smiled, tilted her head to one side. "Well, okay. Maybe I was wrong. Perhaps you do possess another side. We'll call it the sleazy one. But I would still consider that a bad side."

He shrugged, uncaring. "We are what we are..._drow_. You think I care about your opinion, the opinion of someone who doesn't have the experience to back up their claim?"

"I don't need experience to tell you're a sleaze-ball. All one has to do is look at you."

"Which you seem to be doing a lot of." he remarked. "What, you think I don't notice? A man would have to be completely blind to miss something you make so godsdamned obvious."

The drow had become a beached whale on the metaphorical shore of their argument, sputtering and floundering. She was able to collect herself as she cleared her drying throat and tried to ignore the heat in her cheeks, all in a desperate attempt to save face, though her face was pretty much in the sand now.

"If I look at you, it's only because I am morbidly fascinated, much as any one would be by a side-show freak." she countered.

Female Pride nodded to her, confidently. _Nice save._

Bishop laughed in amusement. "That's a lot of words coming from a drow. You've looked in a mirror recently, right?"

"Yes, and I always see a beautiful woman looking back." she replied with a smirk. "But I'm sure you're probably aware of that. Don't think I don't notice _you_ looking at _me_, ranger. You're not as subtle as you think."

Bishop smiled nastily. "So, what? I'm male, you're female; we're bound to notice things about each other. It's only natural. At least I'm not afraid to admit it...and at least I don't get all flustered about it."

"And you're implying that I am? I'm not afraid of anything." Jaelyn snapped. Her voice held more venom than an Inland Taipan's bite. "I simply find it disconcerting and disturbing that I should find you even remotely appealing. That's not natural."

She snapped her mouth closed in horror, realizing what she'd just said, and thoroughly hating herself for saying it. She was going to have to have a long discussion with her mouth about its habit of running away with her words before her mind could consider and approve them.

_Ugh, Gods..._

His smile widened into a grin to show off his teeth, giving him a particularly wolfish appearance. "Ah, so you can admit it? Well, now, maybe you're not so hopeless after all."

Well, she was in the boat now, so she might as well paddle. Her heart was pounding in terror.

"Don't let it go to your head, you smug bastard." she retorted. "Your appeal is only skin deep. I'd never venture into that cold darkness beneath it."

He gave her a curt nod. "Good, 'cause no one's getting further than that, anyway."

"I don't know why anyone would want to. There's nothing there worth the trip." she shot back with a calm smile.

Bishop's scruffy visage held no pleasant expression, not that it ever did; however, the unpleasantness was currently worse than usual. He couldn't figure out what it was about her words that was bothering him. He decided to let it go. It was what he wanted, anyway; to keep people out.

_Silence. Blessed silence,_ Quin thought when the other two finally decided to call their arguing off for the night.

The halfling sighed contentedly and laid back on his bed roll, staring up at the star-freckled sky with his hands laced behind his head.

There was only the sound of the waves crashing wetly against the shore and the wind drifting through the trees of the forest behind them. However, you could cut the tension in the air with a knife, serve it to a considerable army and still have enough left over for seconds. And it also seemed a lot hotter than it was a few moments ago.

_Let them fight it out if they want_, the halfling inwardly told himself. _I'm going to sleep._

It wasn't long before he did, beating his other two companions to the Land of Nod.

And while the halfling slept peacefully, there was an intense glaring contest going on between the two rangers. It went on for a good ten minutes and then Jaelyn cracked. She'd gotten distracted by a familiar stir, a heat blossoming in her belly that created a new pulse inside her. Then her throat went dry. She hadn't felt these things since that day on the Seawolf, when she had been staring at him and wondering about things that she shouldn't have.

The drow frowned at him, at the smug smirk he was giving her, at the strange, alien feelings he was putting inside her, and then she huffed and laid over on her bed roll, her back to him.

_I really hate him_, was her last thought before falling asleep.

**xxxxxxxxxx**

It was deep in the night when an overwhelming feeling inside Jaelyn seeped into her mind and woke her up.

She'd had that feeling many times in her life and it usually came just before something really terrible was about to happen.

It was hard to explain what it was, but it was something like Instinct jumping up and down on her consciousness while yelling, banging things around and tolling bells all in a desperate attempt to let her know that Danger was in the vicinity, looking to cause some trouble.

Never had that feeling been as strong as it was now.

She was sitting up on her bed roll, staring about herself in anxiety.

Both of her companions were asleep and nothing about them seemed out of place, except the content look on the ranger's face, but she didn't feel like considering it at the moment, despite the fact that it was an expression she'd never seen on him before, and a pleasant one that made him look friendly and approachable. Even Feral was still deeply sleeping in the sand beside her, curled up in a little, warm, comfortable ball of beige-striped fur.

There were hardly any sounds other than the waves and the breeze, but the little hairs on the back of her neck were standing on end. She felt as if she was being watched.

Jaelyn looked around the beach and then looked behind her at the dark, looming forest, which seemed darker than usual, despite it being a full moon.

She was about to lay back down and forget about it when she saw something move among the trees just along the border of the forest.

Two large, glowing red eyes winked to life among the blackness and leered at her. Those eyes sent a cold knife of fear into her spine. They belonged to something really big and, with the luck they had, probably something very menacing and violent as well, yet whatever it was, it made no move. It was as still as stone.

Jaelyn had no idea why she did it, considering the halfling was nearer at hand, but the drow crawled carefully across the sand toward the ranger, her gaze on the dark shape watching. It didn't react to her movements.

She lifted a hand to lay it on Bishop's shoulder to rouse him, but he apparently had already sensed her there, for his eyes snapped open and he moved to sit up before her hand even touched him. He stared at her in confusion.

"What're you doing?" he demanded, irritated with being woken up and suspicious of her close proximity. He didn't appreciate the invasion of his 'personal space'.

Jaelyn swallowed and nodded her head toward the forest, her eyes on his. "There's something out there."

He tilted his head slightly to one side and his eyes shifted sideways to peer out of his peripheral vision, and then they came back to her. He went rigid. Jaelyn saw in his face that he now felt that same thing she had felt, the presence of danger.

"Is it big?" he inquired, for he had not gotten a very good look at it from the side view and he wasn't about to turn around fully, deciding it best to take a bit of caution in case the thing was sensitive to movement.

She gulped and nodded. He scowled.

"How big?"

"See for yourself." she said. "Just don't make any sudden moves. I don't think it means to attack...yet."

Bishop turned slowly a bit to look over his shoulder and noted the enormous black shape and glowing eyes staring out of the forest.

"I'm getting just a little sick of this crap." he said with a rough sigh.

The shape moved. It was a strange motion, like it was something floating and undulating on air instead of walking on land. It drifted silently toward them and then paused. The trees groaned in objection. It was apparent that even the towering, woody plants didn't care for the uninvited guest either, but then again, the trees didn't really seem to care for anyone.

Jaelyn held her breath, her eyes wide and her hand was now on the ranger's shoulder, fingers and nails digging into him in terror. Bishop was only vaguely aware of it; he was more concerned at the moment with the dark, red-eyed thing that might or might not try to kill them. His hand reached out to his left, seeking the hilt of his sword, which he kept nearby for such occasions as this. He found it first try and pulled it toward him, slowly. Jaelyn cringed when the blade scraped across the sand; it severed the silence, as violently as sharp nails on glass might. Her hand tightened on his shoulder like a vise and she resisted the nearly irresistible urge to shake him violently in her fear of what she knew was to come next, because that was what some people did when they were scared; they panicked, latched onto the nearest person and shook them like a maraca, which usually only proved to create anxiety in the other person. This was usually how Mass Panic got started.

Some yards from them, the black shape with the red eyes grew very still. The eyes narrowed and it released a bone-freezing sound, an icy snarl of rage that sounded as if it had come up from the very depths of Cania. The thing propelled toward them like a black arrow.

"Gods..." Jaelyn breathed in terror and barely had enough time to throw herself forward onto the sand, Bishop following suit as the thing flew right over them and came to an angry, bellowing stop at the shoreline before it could reach the water, which it obviously was not keen on. It then slowly circled around to face them.

They both scrambled to their feet, looking at each other in confusion.

Out in the open, they saw the thing for what it was. It seemed like nothing more than a very tall and very wide humanoid-shaped shadow with red eyes. It was nothing but black vapor, yet Jaelyn was positive she had felt something solid brush over her moments ago.

Feral was up from his sleep now and noticed the shadow creature immediately. He recognized the murderous thing from his time living in the forest, and though he was quite loyal to Jaelyn, he couldn't help his instincts. He'd seen this thing kill before. Feral gave Jaelyn an apologetic look before letting out a fearful shriek and darting off into the woods. Quin, who could sleep through an apocalypse, remained on his bed roll, deep in the land of slumber, snoring. He hadn't even twitched.

The shadow thing stood at the shoreline still and did not move as it stared at the two rangers, probably trying to decide which one of them was more of a threat.

Jaelyn sidled toward Bishop, never taking her gaze off of the creature.

"What do we do now?" she whispered to him.

"Kill it, what else?"

"But I don't think-"

She didn't get a chance to finish her sentence as the shadow advanced again, floating rapidly across the sand toward them. Jaelyn knew how this was going to end and didn't much care for the results. A part of her wanted to dive on the ranger, save him from a nasty blow, but another part of her knew that the impossible idiot wouldn't understand why she did it, why she'd robbed him of his chance to take the thing out. It was better to let him learn from personal experience. She had a feeling the attack wouldn't harm him...much. He was tougher than most people, she had to admit, but she still didn't enjoy watching people get attacked by strange shadowy things, even if that particular person might deserve it.

Jaelyn backed away quickly to avoid being caught up in the attack.

The shadow thing closed in on the ranger, who was giving it 'the look', putting all the intimidation into it that he could muster while he held his weapon up in an aggressive position. Just as the thing reached him, he swung quick and high, an attack that would've severed the creature's head if his sword hadn't just swished harmlessly through the vaporous, shadowy form; he might as well have been trying to cut at thin air, which was really all the thing was in the first place. He'd fought shadows before, though, and his weapons had always gone through them in that harmful fashion that they had been constructed for and it had always felt like stabbing into pudding, but this, however, was different. He'd watched his sword go through the blackness that made up this creature, but the blade met no resistance of any form.

Bishop stared at his weapon in annoyed astonishment, then looked up into the red eyes blazing angrily down at him. One long, black, and muscular arm went back, and a hand curled into a prominent fist. He had no time to duck.

"Oh, sh-"

The blow took him back several feet off the ground. He groaned when he hit the sand and tried to shake off the force of the attack. He was positive the gray matter between his ears had been momentarily turned into soup before somehow molding together again to form a brain. And he'd somehow kept a hold on his weapon.

Jaelyn winced and felt a bit of sympathy for the jerk.

The shadow moved forward to attack him again and the drow, now positive that Bishop would understand that he wouldn't be able to attack this thing and do a bit of good, bent quickly to the remnants of their campfire and lifted a charred log, which was still warm from their previous fire.

"Hey!" she cried at the thing, but it didn't pay her any heed, as she had expected it wouldn't.

Jaelyn hurled the log at it. It passed right through it, but it did what she wanted it to do. It drew the creature's attention away from Bishop.

It looked at her, its red eyes turning into slits of rage.

"That's right." she provoked it. "Come and get me!"

The ranger stared at her in surprise and confusion. He knew what she was doing, but he didn't understand why she was doing it. Such deeds were lost on him.

_Idiot. No, she's worse than an idiot; she's an idiot trying to be a hero._

The enormous shadow moved toward her a bit, studying her and preparing itself.

"I've got a plan." she said to the ranger, her gaze on the shadow monster. "Uh...sort of. So, listen-"

"You might want to keep it to yourself, then." he replied. "Otherwise our new 'friend' here might catch on."

"It doesn't understand us."

"How do you know?"

"Because it's not talking to us and it hasn't reacted to anything we've said yet. Now, will you please shut up and listen?"

"Fine." he said roughly. "Let's have it, then, this doomed plan of yours."

Jaelyn rolled her eyes. She wished just once that this man would stop being so cynical and negative about everything. He was such a downer sometimes.

"We left that trapdoor open at the chapel." she said. "I think I can lure it there and then we can trap it in that hole."

"Oh, brilliant." Bishop replied caustically. "And here I thought you were going to have a bad idea. How in the hells do you think you're going to get it down there?"

"Lure it down." she said confidently.

"And I imagine you think you can just fly right back up out of that hole, right? You're an idiot. Whatever, it's your own ass."

Jaelyn frowned. "You seem to always have an opinion but I never hear you coming up with any plans."

"Oh, really?" he snapped. "That thing doesn't like water. So, if we're in it, it won't attack us. How's that?"

"Yes," Jaelyn replied with that same sarcasm he'd used against her moments ago. "Then it'll be a game of who can outlast the other and that thing has a big advantage over us, Bishop. It doesn't ever need to sleep or eat or relieve itself...and with all this excitement...well, I've already got to go."

He gave an irritated eye roll, not that she could see it with her gaze firmly glued to the shadow thing. "Fine, you want to lure it into that hole, go right ahead. It'll be ridding me of two nuisances. So it's win-win at my end."

Jaelyn tore her gaze away from the monster finally. She couldn't help it. She stared at Bishop with an expression of both hurt and horrified astonishment. This man didn't care about anything but himself. What astonished her more was that there had been a deeply embedded hope that that might change. It was a fool's hope. Maybe she really was an idiot.

The expression on her face shifted dramatically. That vulnerable look that had been there before was now replaced by something hard and cold, something to rival the ranger's own expression.

"Forget it." she growled. "I'm not going to risk my life for the likes of yours."

He smirked. That was exactly what he wanted her to say.

"Then I'd learn to swim if I were you, girl." he growled back.

Jaelyn ignored the remark as she moved quickly toward Quin and then bent down to grab him and make a run for the water. Quin barely had enough time to wake up and realize what was going on.

"What in the hells?"

Jaelyn sat him down and propelled him toward the surf. "In the water! Now!"

"But-"

"Now!" she shouted, leaving no room for argument.

Quin's eyes went wide as he noticed the menacing black shape that had been hovering over their camp and then quickly spun around and jumped into the surf without further protest and with an insignificant splash.

Jaelyn faced the thing, shifting her eyes from it to the ranger, who was getting to his feet and moving stealthily behind the creature toward the water. The drow moved back toward the forest, trying to keep its attention long enough for Bishop to get to safety, despite what she'd said moments ago. She was angry with him, but she didn't have the heart to leave him to the shadow, even if he could've made it on his own. It just wasn't the way she was built. He could be as cruel as he wanted, but she couldn't.

Strange. The shadow wasn't moving or attacking, and it didn't seem like it wanted to attack anymore either. It was merely floating there, staring at her. Its intense red eyes were no longer slits, but wide as they searched into her, as if looking for something important.

Meanwhile, Quin and Bishop stood side by side in knee-deep (or where the halfling was concerned, waist deep) sea water, trying to hold back the waves and wondering what in the hells was going on along the shore between their drow companion and that shadow thing.

Quin floated up over a wave, steadied himself, and then tugged on the ranger's arm.

"What's she doing?"

"Hells if I know." Bishop replied and then with a disgusted look, "If I had to guess, I'd say she's going to try and _talk_ to it."

"Surely not." said the halfling in surprise.

Bishop gave him a severely meaningful look. "I don't think I need to remind you of what happened earlier today."

"But this is a monster...or something close enough to a monster. She at least had a small chance to talk to the drow. I don't think she's stupid enough to try and talk to something with the sole intent of killing her."

"Oh, no?"

Quin followed the ranger's gaze back to the drow and the shadow thing. Sure enough, she was speaking to it.

The halfling slapped his palm to his forehead. "Oh, dear. One of these days, she's going to get herself killed."

"And it's probably going to be this day." the ranger added, indifferently. "At this particular moment."

Jaelyn stared wide-eyed at the dark specter before her. It had just spoken to her in a deep, watery voice.

"Drow..." it said again. "You're drow."

She swallowed hard to moisten her parched throat and then nodded. She was very aware of the fact that she was unarmed, which made her feel vulnerable and naked.

The shadow thing wavered slightly in the air. "Yet you're not like the others."

Even through the terror, confusion and surprise, Jaelyn was finally able to kick-start her larynx.

"Others?"

"Yes, others." it replied. "You've met one of them already. Your pet ate him, I'm sure you remember."

Again, Jaelyn nodded. "How many more are there?"

"A lot more."

"But...how? How are they here?"

Oddly, the shadow shrugged, as if what it was about to say would be the simplest and most obvious answer.

"We came here a long time ago, escaped the Underdark." it explained.

"We?"

"Indeed. I was once a drow before I became...this." the shadow said. "They say evil pixies entered my bed chambers in the middle of the night and and stuck a knife in my heart."

Jaelyn lifted a brow. "I'm guessing that no such thing happened."

"Of course not." the shadow replied in hardly restrained outrage. "I was murdered. Assassinated. That's what usually happens to good leaders."

"You were their leader?"

"Yes," the dark thing said. "I was the one that led them out of the Underdark and brought them here."

"What do you mean?"

"I thought it would've been a good idea." the black spectre began. "You know, find a place to live above ground where every passing moment wasn't a fight and struggle to stay alive. I recruited a few followers, outcasts, and we found a way out of the Underdark. We found out the hard way that we weren't exactly popular above ground, and with good reason, so we killed some Luskan pirate for his ship, sailed off into a bad storm, and then got wrecked here on the island. We decided it would probably be best to stay here. We had our own little island and everything, or so we thought."

"You mean, the drow aren't the only ones here?" Jaelyn asked, shocked.

"Yes, there are others besides the drow. Island natives. They live at the center of the island. Nice enough people, once you get to know them. Unfortunately, my people didn't want to get to know them. In fact, they wanted to turn them into slaves. I disapproved, of course and and was killed soon after. And now I wander around like this and do what I can to keep the drow away from the natives. They've already caught some of them. However, there's more trouble brewing outside the drow-native conflict."

"What do you mean?"

"This island..." the shadow mused, casting a red glace around at the forest. "It's different. There's something about it, like it's...alive. It wasn't like that when we first landed here, but then it just started doing strange, unexpected things. A few days before my assassination, I could have sworn a tree was trying to talk to me. Thought I was going mad."

"It's funny you should say that, because a day ago, a tree nearly murdered one of my friends." Jaelyn said. "And I've been sensing something about them...like they're angry or something. You can smell it in the air, their anger."

"It's not the trees. It's the island itself. It's angry and it's venting that anger through its children; that is, the trees and plants, possibly even the animals."

"Why is it angry?"

"I don't know. Like I told you, it didn't act that way when we first landed here. It may be our presence or maybe because we are in conflict with the natives, who are, more or less, the protectors of this island. If you ever meet them-and I'm positive that you will-you will come to understand what I mean. They have an uncanny connection with this island. They know what it wants and know what it doesn't want. They're the ones that told me it's angry, but they don't know why. Personally, I think the island hates the fact that us drow are fighting with its people. The natives are peaceful people, who don't know conflict outside of the act of hunting. The only reason why more of their people have not been captured and turned into slaves is because I protect them the best I can. But there is only so much I can do."

"And why're you telling this to me?" Jaelyn demanded, crossing her arms over her chest. "This isn't my problem."

"No, it's not." the shadow replied, coldly. "But from what I can tell, you and your friends are stuck on this island as well. How long do you think you can go out here before our people capture you? You've already met one of them and the encounter didn't go over so well."

"Yeah, for him." she countered. "He died, we didn't."

"There are only three of you-four if your pet decides to come back-and how many drow do you think there are?" the spectre pointed out. "I can assure you that you are heavily outnumbered. However, you can help yourself by helping me stop my people-_our_ people."

Jaelyn laughed. "How stupid do you think I am? You just said yourself that we're out numbered, so how can we help?"

The shadow shifted unpleasantly. It was obvious that it was getting frustrated.

"You can start by shutting up and listening to me." it snapped. "And bring your friends over. They've gotten themselves wet for nothing. I may not like the water, but if I truly wanted to attack them, I wasn't going to let it stop me."

"Which is actually something I've been wondering about. If you wanted to enlist our help, why did you attack us in the first place?"

"Because I wanted to see who you were and what you were capable of. It was a test of sorts, and you passed."

"Oh, good." she replied, sarcastically and with a roll of her eyes. It seemed Bishop was rubbing off on her. "So, how exactly can we help ourselves by helping you?"

"You came here for treasure, I believe."

"How do you know that?" Jaelyn demanded, suspiciously. "In fact, how do you know anything about us at all?"

"There are advantages to being dead and earth-bound." it replied. "I see things, memories and minds and I know what's in them. Shall I tell you what I know of yours, of the sultry, untamed thoughts that run through your head when you look at him?"

It nodded its dark head-shaped part in the ranger's direction. Jaelyn went stiff, and then she stuck her chin out in a show of defiance.

"I don't have any idea what you're talking about." she said firmly.

The shadow made a sound that might have passed for a demented laugh. "Oh, of course not. It's easier to lie to yourself than to admit that you're attracted to a psychopath."

Jaelyn gave the shadow a puzzled look. "Psychopath?"

"Yes, psychopath." the shadow replied, never missing a beat. "I could tell you what I mean if you truly wish to know. Being dead, you get a front row seat to a lot of memories. They linger around the living. Take you, for example. When I look at you, I see dragons...song dragons in misty scenes floating about your head."

The drow's face showed her surprise. Her eyes were wide and her mouth slightly agape. She shook her head and put her features back in order.

"And him?"

Jaelyn turned her head and looked in the ranger's direction. He was still standing in the surf with Quin, watching her and the shadow, a deep dent in his brow, a stone-hard expression on his face, and his arms crossed at his chest. It was obvious that the man was losing his patience. He looked like he'd come marching out of the water at any minute; it was probably self-preservation that was holding him back from actually doing so.

"Bad things." the shadow replied, grimly. "Very bad things. Violence and death...but the memories are very dim and faded. He suppresses them; he's been doing so for a long time. It's all he can do to keep them away. One has to wonder how long he can keep it up before he cracks. I'd watch yourself if I were you. It's not a matter of _if_ he cracks, it's a matter of _when_. When it does happen, you're not going to know it because more than likely, you'll be dead and he'll have done the deed."

Jaelyn shook her head in disbelief. "That's not going to happen."

"Are you so sure?" the shadow inquired. "From what I can tell of your memories, you hardly know him, but you're so confident that he wouldn't do something like that? He cracked before and a lot of people ended up dead. Believe me, I see his memories. I'd watch him if I were you. In any case, we were talking about treasure, yes?"

Jaelyn, who was shaken by what this...shadow thing had just told her, merely nodded. Her gaze found its way back to the ranger.

_Yep_, said a voice in her mind. _I can see him as a psychopath. He's got that particular killer look, despite the handsomeness._

She sighed heavily.

"I've heard there are some hoards on this island, though I've never personally seen them. Also, you will eventually want to leave this island. I believe the natives here might be able to help you, provided that you help them." the shadow said and paused. It's huge, dark bulk turned toward the two standing in the surf and then the red eyes fell on Jaelyn again. "You might want to call them over now. They'll want to hear this."

Jaelyn turned and called to her comrades, though she had a feeling one of them wasn't going to listen to her.

"Hey, come on! It's safe!"

Quin grinned, trudged loyally toward her through the surf and then squelched across the sand, dripping everywhere. Bishop stood there, stubbornly.

Jaelyn stuck her hands on her hips and glared at him as a mother might glare at a child who refuses to listen. She even tapped an impatient foot for good measure, but the effect was ruined due to the sand's sound muffling texture. It wouldn't have mattered in any case. No amount of glaring or impatient foot tapping was going to get the ranger to budge from his spot. He might as well have taken root.

"It's safe." she said, emphasizing the two words with irritation.

"Says you." he yelled across the shore. "And we all know how often you get into trouble."

Jaelyn groaned. "Get over here! Now!"

He narrowed his eyes at her in outrage. "What? You've lost your godsdamned mind, talking to me like that."

"And you're being impossible!"

"No, I'm being quite possible." he replied. "I'm just not keen on getting bludgeoned by a shadow."

"It's not going to attack."

"How do you know? It never once attacked you and never hesitated to attack me."

"It didn't attack you enough, in my opinion." Jaelyn muttered under her breath.

"I heard that."

Jaelyn frowned at him and wondered how in the hells he could've heard her over the sound of the waves and from that distance.

_That bastard's hearing is uncanny. _

"Oh, good," she retorted. "I was beginning to wonder if you were deaf, since you're still standing there."

"And I'm going to continue standing here."

"Fine." she said. "Then you'll miss out on some very important information. And you're going to feel awfully left out when Quin and I know where the treasure is and you don't. So, you go ahead and stand there in the surf like an idiot."

He growled angrily, sounding very much like the vicious, untamed animal he was.

"Fine." he snapped. "But if that thing tries to attack me, I'm using you as a shield."

Jaelyn waved a dismissive hand at the air in his general direction. "Yeah, yeah, just get a move on. We haven't got all day."

He frowned at her hotly, but for once in his wretched existence, he didn't offer any acidic remark. He waded out of the water and crossed the sand toward them, his sword still in his hand.

The shadow turned its red eyes on him in amusement and then shifted back to Jaelyn again.

"Now that you are all together, we can move on."

The shadow explained to Quin and Bishop about the drow-native circumstances and then the strangeness of the island itself, and finally about how they could help each other out.

"This isn't our problem." the ranger said. "We're here for the treasure, not to save the lives of some useless islanders who can't defend themselves."

The shadow blinked at him. "The islanders have never known conflict, as I have said. They cannot defend themselves if they've never had to before."

"You said they hunt." Bishop said. "If they hunt, then more than likely they've come up against something tough. They've had to learn to defend themselves. There's no way in the hells that they could've gone on through life without being attacked by something and if they couldn't learn to fend it off, then they'd all be dead."

"Even still," the shadow said, dismissively, though Jaelyn and Quin thought the ranger had made a rather good point. "They are not nearly as conflict-savvy as the drow. The drow could wipe them out with only four able-bodied men, and they probably wouldn't even need weapons. The fact that I'm around keeps them from doing so, but something must be done before I am no longer able to protect them."

"We should help." Quin said, smiling broadly at his two companions. "But not just for the treasure. It's also the right thing to do."

Bishop snorted derisively. "Right thing to do, my ass. The right thing to do is to let them fend for themselves. If they can't learn to fight back, then let them rot."

Quin gaped at him in shock. "What a horrible thing to say!"

Bishop shot him a smoldering look. "Someone has to say it. It's the truth."

"I agree." Jaelyn spoke up, shocking Quin and surprising the ranger.

"What?" the halfing exclaimed. "How can you agree with that? It's...cold-blooded!"

"Oh, calm down." she said, giving her eyes a half-hearted roll. "I don't agree with all of it, but I do agree that these people need to learn to fight back. And what's more, I think we should be the ones to teach them how."

Now it was Bishop's turn to be unpleasantly shocked.

"I'm not teaching anyone anything. It's their own fault."

"It's not. They've had no real enemies, so they've never needed to properly defend themselves, but we're here to change that." she replied. "The way I see it, we can teach these people to fight back and once they've learned, we won't have to get involved in their conflict."

The shadow nodded. "That's a wise plan. It works out for everyone this way. It would be better for the natives to learn the skills needed to solve their problem instead of having someone solve it for them. However, I fear you may still have to fight the drow."

"Figures." said the ranger bitterly.

"Why?" Jaelyn asked.

"You see, their leader possesses a very powerful weapon." the shadow explained. "It belonged to me before my untimely demise. It's a very powerful sword, infused with dark magics...and a curse. There are dark souls within it and they give power to whomever wields it. Up against this weapon, the natives have no chance. However, you three do."

"_Souls_?" Jaelyn exclaimed, shocked. "There are _souls_ inside of that sword?"

The shadow nodded. "They have been there for centuries. It is part of the curse. The sword is a family heirloom, I suppose. My great-grandfather weilded it, as did my grandfather and father. Now it's in the hands of that bloody lunatic, Dresmor."

"Dresmor?" Quin inquired. "Who's Dresmor?"

"He's the new leader of the drow." the shadow said. "He's also my brother...and my killer."

"You were murdered by your own brother?" Quin asked, horribly taken aback.

Jaelyn and Bishop were unmoved by it; Jaelyn was simply aware of the drow customs to be unmoved, and Bishop simply didn't care.

She patted the halfling on the shoulder. "Common practice among drow. Blood means nothing to them. If they see an advantage to gain power, they'll take it without hesitation. It doesn't matter who they slaughter to get it."

Bishop grunted. "Have to admire that in the drow. They know how to get what they want."

Jaelyn shot him a look. "It's disgusting."

He shrugged. "You have to be willing to do what needs to be done to get what you want."

The shadow faced him and it gave an unpleasant ripple.

"Being the one that was knifed to clear the way, I don't appreciate that remark."

"That's your problem." the ranger replied. "If you didn't expect it, then you deserved what you got. Any leader knows that someone is always going to be out to kill them. Anyone in any high position would be wise to always watch their back. Obviously, you failed to do so."

The shadow blinked its red eyes at him a few times and then faced Jaelyn. "Where'd you get this one from?"

The drow grinned. "Oh, you know, you pick up things along the way. Sometimes something gets stuck to your boots but no matter how hard you try, you just can't get it scraped off. And there it is."

She gestured to the ranger, who scowled murderously at her.

"If I remember correctly, drow, you and the half-man are the ones that practically begged me to come along."

"Begged? You're out of your mind. I didn't want you along in the first place. In fact, I begged Quin not to bring you with us, but he insisted."

Quin put his hands out. "Hey, don't bring me into this. I just wanted an extra person for our adventuring troop and I thought having another ranger might prove useful."

"And what do you think so far, Quin? Useful?" she pointed a rather accusing finger at Bishop, who was nearly prompted to cut it off with his dagger. He touched the hilt, and then decided not to do it with this strange shadow present. He'd already seen what it was capable of and he had no idea whether it would try and protect her or not.

"As a matter of fact, I think he is quite useful." Quin said to Jaelyn's shock.

"How can you say that?"

"Because there have been situations, Jae, where if he hadn't been present, things might have gone terribly wrong." the halfling said. "He saved your life."

"I'm sure it was unintentional." she said angrily. "I saved his, too, you know, in the forest! And at least I meant it when I did it."

Quin nodded. "That's true, you did. But the point is that despite his...flaws, he is quite useful to us. And besides that, you remember when we fought those pirates? You two made a great team! If you both could get along as well as that again, then we'd be unstoppable!"

"Well, that's the problem, Quin. It's hard to get along with someone who's just a big jerk all the time."

Bishop turned slightly to face her, a smirk on his face. "I'll tell you what, you stop being a bitch first and I'll stop being a jerk."

He was lying, of course, but she didn't need to know that. Besides, he only said it to get a rise out of her, which it in fact did.

"Bitch?" Jaelyn shrieked in outrage. "How dare you!"

She tried to kick him where it would've hurt tremendously, but Quin grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

"Calm down, Jae."

"Calm down?" she cried. "He just insulted me!"

"Insult?" replied Bishop. "Nah. It's not an insult if it's fact."

Her eyes widened in rage and she tried to get at him again. Quin held her around the waist, for that was as far as his small arms could reach, and he tried to hold her back.

The ranger and the shadow merely stood back and watched. Bishop grunted a brief laugh when Quin tripped Jaelyn and she fell into the sand, cursing and scrambling to get back up. Quin pounced on her.

"She's got spirit, that one." said the shadow casually.

Bishop shrugged. "Not enough of it."

Jaelyn and Quin wrestled a bit until the halfling finally pinned her to the sand by sitting on her chest. He refused to move until she calmed down. The drow wiggled, bucked, but it did her no good. Quin sat firmly and resolutely.

"I'm surprised she's survived as long as she has." Bishop continued, scornfully.

The shadow's face portion contorted. Behind the blackness somewhere, the former drow was smiling.

"If you could see the things I see, you wouldn't be." it said. "She's had a hard life, but without the trials she wouldn't be who she is. Same as you, I imagine."

The shadow turned its head to gave him a sly look, only to find a deep frown on the ranger's face. Above the man's head, it saw those misty, gray images-memories-attempting to play themselves out. They didn't get very far and the actors were forced to give up and go home, crestfallen. All that remained were remnants of the emotions carried with those memories. They swirled about madly, looking for an outlet. They weren't going to get one. And soon, even they gave up and left in disappointment.

"She has survived, as much as you have." the shadow continued. "And in a way very different from your own mode of survival. I imagine that's what bothers you about her; somewhat of a similar background but two very different results. She has a good heart and she hasn't allowed the bad things in her life to taint her. But you...well, you're you."

Bishop shot the thing a dirty look. He knew the beginning of an analysis when he heard one and he wasn't in the mood for it.

"Don't start that psychology shit with me." he snapped. "It's been attempted several times and I'll tell you what I've told everyone else, you're not getting inside my head, so back off."

The shadow laughed. "Oh, but I'm much different than anyone else. I've already seen inside your head. A lot of dark memories of evil deeds in there and not much else. Maybe a little confusion, cowardice, and denial where your drow companion is concerned."

"I told you to back off!" he shouted angrily at the specter, hands curled into fists at his sides. He was staring so hard and hatefully at the thing that he felt a little twitch above one brow.

An awkward silence drifted on the group. Quin was staring him, Jaelyn was staring at him around the halfling, and the specter was staring at him. Everyone was fucking staring at him.

"_What_?" he shouted again. "Go on, paint a picture, it'll last longer!"

Jaelyn frowned, the shadow's words rising in the back of her head. _It's not a matter of if he cracks, it's a matter of when._

She wondered if that when was now. He looked ready to explode.

Thankfully, the shadow spoke before he could.

"Now, you have been told of the circumstances. Will you help me or not?"

Quin removed himself from Jaelyn's person and they both got up. The drow dusted the sand off of her leather and then glanced between her two companions.

"I'm up for it if you two are."

"You can count on me." Quin piped, cheerfully.

That left the ranger. Quin and Jaelyn looked at him, expectantly. They both got a scowl.

"You already know my answer."

Jaelyn sighed heavily and shook her head. "Why must you be so difficult? I mean, doing this isn't going to hurt you any."

"Maybe not." he spat at her in anger. "I simply don't want to do it. And if I don't want to do it, nothing in the hells is going to make me do it."

"So, what, you're just going to sit here on the beach and twiddle your thumbs?"

She didn't get an answer, but she did get a dirty look.

"How about I give you no choice?" the shadow said to him. "I'm certain you will appreciate that. Besides, you want gold. Help me, or you don't get your hands on it. Though I've never been to them, I know the locations. I'll gladly give them to you if you help me."

"Oh, yeah? You just said you've never been to these places. They could be nothing for all you know."

"Perhaps, but they may also be something." the shadow replied. "You won't know until you check them out for yourself. There is...one place I know for a fact contains some treasure, but not much. It is where the drow store the treasures they've found here on the island, things from old dragon hordes, from the natives themselves, even things they've brought here from the Underdark. Do you want to get your hands on it or not?"

Bishop let out a vicious growl and it was all he could do to keep from trying to inflict a murderous assault on the specter before him. If only that damn thing wasn't untouchable...

"Fine." he conceded, passionately.

Jaelyn suppressed a laugh. He was nearly sulking.

The specter rippled in amusement. "Very well. Then on the morrow, I will lead you to the native's village. I suggest you get some rest. It is a long journey. We will meet again at the chapel."

"When?" Jaelyn inquired.

"Morning."

"But that's only-"

The shadow was gone. It simply swirled in on itself and faded before their eyes.

The drow crossed her arms roughly against her chest. "Well, that was just rude."

"This had better be godsdamned worth it." Bishop warned. "If I'm disappointed at the end of this, I'm going to start stabbing people."

Quin elbowed him in the thigh (because that was as high as he could reach with it) and grinned when the ranger glowered down at him.

"I promised gold, didn't I?"

Bishop gave him a dark, sinister smile. "Pray you follow through, then, 'cause you'll be the first person acquainted with the sharp end of my knife."

Quin looked rather unmoved by the threat. He was used to it. The halfling's life had been threatened on many, many occasions when he worked as a Shadow Thief. He'd learned to take them all in stride and to walk with eyes in the back of his head; so he really didn't take the ranger's threat seriously.

Jaelyn, however, wasn't as forgiving. She stepped toward Bishop, defiant and resolute. "Don't you threaten him, you son of a bitch. You'll be going through me first to get to him."

The ranger closed the gap between them in one fluid, determined step, his golden eyes boring into her green ones. "Then I guess you'll be dying first."

Quin groaned and reached up to push them both apart. "All right, let's everyone go to their mutual corners. We've got a big day tomorrow and we should probably get at least a couple of hours of sleep before morning's here."

Quin held on to Jaelyn's wrist when she didn't budge. He looked up between the two again and didn't quite understand what was going on. They were just staring at each other. Jaelyn still had that defiant look on her face, now mingled with rage and the halfling wondered for a moment if she was going to hit the ranger. Bishop, on the other hand, no longer had that dangerous, threatening expression. A sly, knowing smile had replaced it.

"You're standing up to the wrong person, girl." he remarked and then turned away from her.

Jaelyn's brows furrowed. "I'm not afraid of you."

He looked over his shoulder and his smile widened, but he said nothing.

Meanwhile, Feral, who'd been hiding in a familiar blueberry shrub, poked his furry head out from the foliage, looking about cautiously. He saw no big, scary shadow things and so he came out and darted back to the beach where his new friend, the good, dark-skinned two-leg, was waiting. He truly hoped she wouldn't be displeased with him for running off when the going got rough.

The minute he reached the sand, he nearly ran into the taller male two-leg, whose disposition reminded the cat-bear a little of the cliff wolves on the island, only the two-leg's was much worse.

The two-leg looked down at him with a nasty look and seemed like he was about to strike out. Feral lowered himself, bristled and let out a ferocious growl. In that growl were these words: _Back off, pal, if you know what's good for you, or I'll do to you what I did to the drow. Get it?_

He got it. The two-leg smirked and walked off.

Feral moved toward the dark two-leg, but kept his gaze on the other.

She was happy to see him. She smiled a lovely smile and lifted him up into a cuddle. Feral couldn't help but rub his face against her neck, which had a pleasant smell. She wasn't like the other dark-skinned two-legs on the island, nor was she like the light-skinned two-legs that wore the island deer hide as fur. She was nice and treated him like no other two-leg ever had. He kind of liked the smaller two-leg as well. While hiding in the blueberry shrub Feral had been stricken with guilt and had come to a decision. He was going to stay with his new friend from now on; no matter what came after her, he would be at her side and would protect her the best he could.


	8. Chapter 8: Gulaonar the Former Drow

**xxxxxx**

* * *

**Chapter Eight:**

**Gulaonar the Former Drow**

**xxxxxx**

**A** little bit after dawn, the trio (plus one cat-bear) packed up their small camp and headed inland for the Lolth chapel they had been to the day before and where they were to meet up with the shadow thing.

They arrived some forty-five minutes later and Jaelyn immediately took note of the red smear on the ground a few yards away from the chapel where Feral had mauled and eaten a drow. The remains were no longer there; they had probably been scavenged by other animals on the island, where ever they might be hiding.

Feral walked up to the gruesome stain, moved forward on all fours and gave it a sniff. He made a small growling noise and then urinated on the spot, marking it as his own, not that he was ever planning on being out this way again any time soon or that it did any good since something had obviously already been at it; it was more a habit of instinct than anything else.

While Feral went about his cat-bear business, the other three stood around, waiting for the shadow thing to show up.

They all had gotten only four hours of sleep the previous night and both rangers were tired. Quin, unphased by the lack of sleep, was in his normal, cheery mood , Jaelyn was quieter, and Bishop was in a foul mood. Although that was about normal for him, he was more fatigued and impatient than usual.

The ranger stood around for about ten minutes, grew bored, made a disgusted face at nothing in particular (he just felt like it) and then sauntered out of the clearing, his form fading among the trees. No one bothered to ask where he was going, which was probably a good thing, because he most likely would've snapped at them. It wasn't exactly important, in any case. He was merely going out to answer the call of nature, and like most human beings, he preferred to keep it private.

Quin was inside the chapel inspecting the hole they had uncovered the day before to see if maybe their new shadow friend was down there. Jaelyn sat on a nearby boulder (these particular boulders could be conveniently found almost everywhere where normal seating was not available, or when the amount of seating was not sufficient) and considered her surroundings. She immediately noticed something very unsettling.

It was early morning still, about two hours after dawn and the sun was not cresting in the correct position and the small puffy clouds in the sky were moving unusually fast. According to the laws of nature and astrology, the sun always rose in the east. It was defying that law presently by rising a little off to the northeast. And clouds weren't particularly expeditious, either; these clouds, however, might as well have been on Speed. For a moment, Jaelyn wondered if it was just her imagination, maybe a hallucination conjured up from sleep deprivation, but then she considered the island's bizarre qualities: trees that groaned and had the potential for being homicidal, a meager supply of wild animals, no birds to speak of, drow, and now this thing with the sun. Quick-moving clouds were certainly not impossible.

With the sun off position, she could only guess that the world was off its rotation or the island had to be moving. Or something. In any case, it spelled trouble.

Jaelyn sat up, her eyes wide at the very idea of such things happening. "Holy shit."

She shook her head and mentally kicked herself for having such a ridiculous thought. The island wasn't moving. The island was a piece of land and land didn't move, not like this, nor did it get angry. Common Sense told her this in an assuring tone, but a deeper part of her still wasn't buying it. This wasn't your garden-variety island, that was obvious. Sure, there were picture-perfect, white sand beaches on the outside of the island, but there was something darker on the inside and no doubt there was something even worse at its core. Did it really have the ability to move? Well, what else could explain the sun being out of position? If it was the world that was off...well, she didn't even want to think about that. She just didn't know what to think, anymore. Her life was dominated by the laws of nature and since coming to the island, she found law after law being broken, which disconcerted and alarmed her. Trees didn't groan in pain or try to strangle people with vines, islands didn't move and the sun always rose in the east. And though she loved Feral and thought him to be one of the most adorable creatures she'd ever seen, cats and bears were not meant to mate. It was physically impossible. Yet there he was, just like all the rest of it. Was it the magic the map claimed was in the center of this island? Was that what was causing all this?

There was a sudden sound, like metal banging on stone, that drew her out of her thoughts. It was coming from the chapel.

The drow leaned back a bit to peer through the threshold into the chapel and saw the halfling standing on the sacrificial altar, thrusting his rapier at the ruby eyes of the Lolth image on the back wall in an attempt to dislodge them.

"What in the hells is that half-man doing now?" said a rough, husky voice nearby. Very nearby, as it turned out.

Jaelyn was so startled by it that she let out a small cry and nearly lept out of her skin. Her surprised jerk sent her tumbling and flailing backward off the boulder where she landed on the ground ungraciously. She lay there for a long moment, staring up at the ring of sky overhead while she tried desperately to calm her racing heart, which seemed to be trying to hammer its way out of her chest.

A scruffy, smirking face appeared over her and she resisted the desire to throw a fist into it.

"Someone's a little on edge today."

She glared up at him. "On edge? You sneaked up on me, damn it. I really wish you'd quit doing that. It's annoying."

The ranger shrugged. "Maybe if you'd pay better attention to your surroundings you wouldn't have gotten startled. That's a good way to get killed, you know. If I wanted to, I could've-"

"Oh, shut up." she snipped and slowly got to her feet, roughly dusting dirt, leaves and other miscellaneous foliage from her person. "If you knew I wasn't paying attention, then you shouldn't have been sneaking up on me. Something tells me you only did it to be a jerk."

"You say you learn things by personal experience. Well, then consider it a lesson. At least then I won't have to hear you whine about it."

"Here's an idea. Why don't you just stop being a jerk?"

"Maybe I will," he lied. "When you stop being a bitch."

"What is your problem?" she snapped, angrily, fed up with his attitude toward everyone, especially her. "I haven't done anything to you and all you do is treat me like... well, like shit!"

He smiled calmly to her displeasure.

"Then it's a step up from how you should be treated. You are drow. Shit will always rank a little higher than your people."

Something in Jaelyn finally snapped. All the people who'd ever insulted, teased her, and attacked her for what she was had rolled up into one being, one being standing before her within striking range and Rage rose up inside her and charged out of her. Jaelyn had had enough. She was fed up with this and she was not going to take it in stride anymore.

She advanced on him, mad as a wet hen. It was her fist that came at him first and then her knee, aimed perfectly for his groin. Bishop blocked them both, a little surprised by the force behind them. He caught her fist in the palm of his hand and it stung, then he twisted a bit to block her knee with his thigh and her bony joint was probably going to leave a bruise, but the way he figured, better it be his leg than his genitals; such a blow would've caused a lot more damage. He had no desire to spawn, but he'd like to know that the option was open. More over, there was no telling what a blow like that would do to the workings of his sexual anatomy. He would also like to be able to get it up when the desire arose, so to speak. A man who couldn't get an erection on cue was no man at all.

He heard a low growl from his left side and spared a glance at Feral only long enough to issue a dead-on warning that left no room for protest or argument, or retaliation.

"Back off, you little shit or I'll kill you."

Feral stared at him, shocked by the cold, dead-pan tone of his voice. It promised demise.

He growled again, but there were words in it this time that the ranger's animal empathy could translate.

_Okay_, the cat-bear's growl said, _I don't see any real threat to her safety here, so I won't attack you, but one wrong move on her, buddy-pal, and I'll rip your genitals out through your ears, okay?_

The drow was breathing heavily in rage, her eyes wide and there was a flicker of red in their depths. She tried to pull back, but his hand was like a vise over hers. She struck out with her free hand and was once more thwarted by the bastard, who smiled at her in amusement.

Gods, how she wanted to beat the hells out of him right now. When he released her, she was going to lay down some real hurt.

"Now, then," he finally said. "Was that so hard?"

Her brows furrowed in confusion. "Huh?"

"Consider it another lesson." he went on, knowing that she wasn't going to understand. "You seem to like standing up to me for some reason, and I'm warning you, girl, every time you do it, you put yourself in a little more danger. One of these days, you'll catch me on a really bad day and that'll be the end for you. Instead of standing up to me, why don't you try doing it to the ones that keep running you out of town?"

She frowned and jerked away. He let her go this time, having made his point.

Jaelyn rubbed her wrist where he'd kept a tight grip that had nearly cut off circulation.

"That's kind of hard to do when you're out-numbered."

"Is it?" he said. "Why do you think they come after you in bigger numbers?"

"Because they hate me!" she shouted at him. "They hate me for what I am."

"Yeah, they hate you," he conceded. "But they hate you because they're afraid of you. That's what people do. They hate things that scare them and they hate things they don't understand. If you're smart, you'll use it to your advantage."

"And how would I do that?"

He sighed in irritation. "Do I have to spell it out for you? Look, they're afraid of you, so if you stand up to them, they'll back down."

"And what if they don't? Then I'm out-numbered by people who want nothing more than to kill me. What great advice, Bishop. Thanks."

"Don't get that bitchy little attitude with me, girl." he warned. "I'm trying to tell you something that you're obviously too stupid to figure out on your own. So what if you're out-numbered? It's mostly farmers and gate guards that chase you off anyway, right? I've seen you take out a tavern of trained killers, and you're going to stand there and say you can't fend off a few farmers?"

"Yeah and attacking them only makes me out to be like the drow they fear and hate."

He made a face and shook his head in disgust. "What does it matter when they've already got that opinion, anyway? You need to get it through your hard head that no one's going to change their opinion of the drow, no matter what you do to try and make them think you're different. Stand up to them and at the very least, you defend yourself and what you are. That's a lot better than running away from them like a coward."

"I am not a coward!" she averred.

He shrugged coldly. "Cowards run when they shouldn't."

"Think what you want. I'm not talking about this anymore." she said angrily. "You don't know what it's like."

He scoffed. "So you keep saying, as if you're the only person in the world who suffers. You don't know anything about me, drow. So don't presume things. We just might be more similar that you think."

"I truly doubt that." she replied sharply. "We're nothing alike. And I said I'm not talking about it anymore, so just leave it be."

"Fine." he snapped back, his anger rearing, though why he should even bother to get angry about it was beyond him. Maybe it just irritated him that she had the ability to fight back and stand up for herself, yet when it came to other people attacking her for her heritage, she just backed down. He wondered if maybe she thought she deserved the hatred. If that was true, then she was an even bigger fool than he thought. Even that notion seemed to bother him. She had potential to be someone tougher and stronger, but she just wasn't getting it. Whether she thought she deserved the hatred or not, there was still that need in her to be accepted in society. She couldn't see that she'd survived fine without society; she didn't need anyone's acceptance but her own.

He wasn't going to bother with it anymore. He'd tried to show her something moments ago, that she _could_ defend herself, but she still refused it. Let her keep being a coward, then. He wasn't going to keep wasting efforts on her. He shouldn't have been making them, anyway.

Silence. It seemed to Jaelyn that all their conversations created some kind of awkward silence. It also seemed that all their conversations were actually just arguments. She was beginning to wonder if they would ever be capable of exchanging decent words with one another. She was going to cast her vote on nay. Maybe he was right, maybe they were similar on at least one account: they were both terminally stubborn, refusing to let the other win.

Jaelyn reflected momentarily on whatever point he had just been trying to make to her and then refused the hells out of it. He thought she should stand up to them all, but she couldn't help but feel that standing up to them would only make herself look worse. Besides, how do you stand up to the entire world? What would be the point? Sooner or later more than just farmers and gate guards were going to come after her. She'd only end up getting killed and she wasn't particularly looking forward to an early death. She would have assumed he'd understand that more than anyone else would. She could keep telling herself these things over and over, but the more she did, the more gray they were becoming and the more Bishop's logic began to make sense. It was getting just a little scary.

Feral ran up to her, wrapping his furry arms around her leg, sensing her distress. He pressed his face against her, rubbing. Jaelyn caressed the top of his head in gratitude. Feral was good at making her feel better.

Quin came strolling out of the chapel, whistling off tune and tossing something round and red into the air, catching it in his palm over and over again.

"Lolth's followers need to construct better holy symbols of their Spider Queen." he said, grinning. "That was easier than I thought."

Jaelyn stared at him, sternly, with her hands on her hips. "Quince Bramblebrow, did you steal those rubies out of that holy symbol?"

"Er...yes?" he replied, confused.

Her stern look remained for a few seconds, creating even more confusion in the halfling's already turbulent mind...and then she smiled.

"Good." she said. "I'm all for stealing from Lolth."

The halfling laughed and slapped her in the small of her back. He then held one ruby up to the peeking sun, between his index finger and thumb and peered through the red.

"Wow." he noted with pleasant surprise. "Good quality. Wonder where they found them."

Jaelyn shrugged. "That shadow thing mentioned hoardes."

"Hey!" Quin exclaimed, excitedly. "Maybe we could-"

But the rest of his words were rudely interrupted by the sound of a sword clearing its sheath. Jaelyn and Quin looked to see the ranger standing just at the northern edge of the clearing, his sword out and his form rigid, which were things that told Jaelyn he was ready for a fight.

She wasted no time in bending to her things where she'd sat them and getting her bow and quiver of arrows. Quin was already hurrying to the ranger, carrying his rapier.

Jaelyn joined them a few minutes later, strapping her quiver in place at her hip.

Ahead, walking calmly toward them through the forest foliage was a misty translucent figure, a male drow figure.

"Shoot it." Bishop said without looking.

Jaelyn knew the command had been given to her, but she was a little confused nonetheless. Shoot it? But it had to be the shadow thing they had met last night. The form approaching them was drow, which the shadow had claimed to be when it was alive, and it was the only thing that knew they would be out there.

"But-" she began to protest, but he cut her off sharply.

"Just do it!"

She noted the dent in his brow, the look of slight anger in his eyes, and the frustration and impatience contorting his face. She decided to do as he said, even if she thought it would waste time and an arrow. One thing she knew better than to try and test was Bishop's anger.

Jaelyn sighed, nocked an arrow and set it loose. As she had expected, the arrow went right through the drow figure and thunked into the trunk of a nearby tree. The tree, to no one's surprise, flailed a branch angrily and let off a woody, groaning noise. Jaelyn marked that tree as one to avoid stepping within striking distance of in the near future.

"Why did I waste an arrow on that?" she demanded to Bishop and then at his angry look, she added quickly, "It's obviously the shadow thing we met last night."

"Funny, shadows tend to be _black_." he shot back, smartly. "Besides, it _could've_ been a trick, a drow protected by magic. Ever heard of Ethereal Visage?"

She blinked. "Um...no. I don't know anything about magic."

"But wouldn't an arrow have gone through a drow protected by Ethereal Visage, anyway?" Quin added. "Isn't that the purpose?"

"No, it grants some damage reduction against magical weapons and makes you immune to lower level spells." said Bishop firmly.

"But...it conceals, you know, makes things intangible. So, it would have to-"

"Just shut up, half-man."

"But..." Quin continued nonetheless, trying to make his point to simply prove the ranger wrong.

Jaelyn sighed quietly and studied her nails while the two males continued arguing. She was just glad it wasn't her and ranger for once.

Bishop groaned out of impatience.

"It only protects against certain things and arrows aren't one of them, that's what I'm saying."

"But it has to if it's _concealing_ the caster."

Bishop narrowed his eyes at the halfling. He was about half a second away from knocking him upside his head.

He thrust a finger angrily at a nearby rock. "Do you see that over there? If you don't shut up, I'm going to pick it up and brain you with it."

Quin frowned. "Now, there's no need for that. I was simply pointing out the flaw in your logic concerning Ethereal Visage."

"There's no flaw. That spell doesn't protect against arrows; it just doesn't. What's so hard to understand about that?"

"Because it conceals! If it conceals, then no arrows should be allowed to strike the caster. That's the law!"

"_What fucking law_?" the ranger roared in utter and complete frustration.

"Would you two just _shut up_ about it?" Jaelyn cried at them, having lost her own patience with their pointless argument. "Our visitor is approaching."

They all faced the ethereal drow image, which was now coming to a halt a few paces from them. There was a faint, amused smile on his face as he regarded each of them individually. Jaelyn's heart was given a lurch. There was something about this ghost, about this former drow, but she couldn't put her finger on what it was. There was just this feeling, as if she knew him somehow, even though it was impossible. She'd never met another drow before in her life, other than the one Feral had eaten, but this was not that drow.

"I had hoped this form would have been more welcoming than my last, but I see it has caused a bit of a quarrel among you." said the drow ghost.

"He started it!" Quin remarked, crossing his arms childishly.

"To clarify things," the ghost drow said. "I am obviously not a drow protected by Ethereal Visage."

Quin turned and stuck his tongue out at the ranger, who shot back a murderous glare.

The ghost smiled. "When we met last night on the beach, I was in my shadow form. This form you see before you is what I truly am, a remnant of the drow I once was. I have the ability to change from this to a shadow. I prefer the shadow, however, for that form causes alarm and fear in my enemies and it is the only way I can physically harm them."

"All right, you're here now, so I want to ask you some questions about this island." Jaelyn insisted, leaving no room for argument.

The ghost had no intention of arguing.

"Ask what you will and I will answer as best I can."

"Is this island moving?" was her first question to the surprise of her companions, who gave her funny looks. "The sun is no longer rising in the east and the clouds are moving quicker than normal."

Bishop rose a brow, wondering if she'd finally snapped, but then he rose golden eyes to the sky and noticed that, yes, the clouds were actually moving kind of fast, and yes, the sun wasn't exactly where it was a day ago. If the drow was losing it, so was he.

The ghost drow sighed heavily. "Yes, the island is moving."

"_How_?" Jaelyn exclaimed, her eyes wide. "How can it move? It's not alive, things that aren't alive don't move!"

The ghost smiled. "I am not alive and I can move."

"Uh...yes, but this island isn't...well, it's not..." she faltered, struggling to put her thoughts into words. "The island isn't alive like you are...um, were. When it's 'dead', it's not going to turn into a ghost; it doesn't have a soul or anything. And it'll never techinically die. It'll probably sink or burn up, or freeze or something in a thousand years, but it's not going to 'die' like we die."

"This isn't any ordinary island." the ghost said. "It's infused with strange magic."

"Wild magic?" Quin inquired. "I've heard that there are places where the Weave has been damaged, creating these wild zones where spells have unpredictable effects."

"I cannot say." said the drow ghost. "All I know is that it's unlike any magic I've ever come across and it has given this island a life of its own."

"But you said the natives here 'talk' to the island, that they know what it wants and doesn't want." Jaelyn reminded him. "But if this island is 'active' because of magic, wouldn't that mean that it's not actually alive and that they can't really speak to it?"

The ghost considered this. "I cannot answer that. All I know is that they do have a connection to this place. In any case, to return to the topic at hand, as I told you before, this island _is_ moving."

"Why?"

"I don't know." the ghost replied. "Perhaps it is fed up with the constant invaders."

Jaelyn frowned. "Don't try to be comical. This is serious. If the island is moving, then there's no telling where it's headed, which means that we three will definitely be stuck here if it doesn't stop."

"I knew agreeing to join you two was going to be a very big mistake." said Bishop irately. "I should've guessed it when the halfling promised gold. There's always some catch when gold's involved."

Jaelyn's eyes grew wide as a horrid thought came strutting into her mind, grinning maliciously.

"What if the island gets caught up in a current?" she blurted, her voice nearing hysteria. "Oh, Gods! What if it floats into another land mass?"

"When the island is in motion, it is protected by a magical field." said the ghost reassuringly.

The drow ranger gave a disturbed smile. "Yes, of course...it won't crash. Yes, we-we'll be safe..."

The ghost rose a brow. "Er...okay. Was there anything else you wanted to know?"

While Jaelyn stared off in mute horror at the sky, Quin asked his question.

"What should we know about these natives? I mean, do they speak Common? I'm guessing they don't. And are they even going to welcome us? I'm also guessing that's a no."

"Come," the drow ghost said. "We will talk about it on the way. We have many miles to cover. The natives' village is in the center of the island, a good one hundred miles inland."

"_A hundred miles_?" Bishop inquired. "How big is this damn rock?"

The ghost gave the question a thoughtful look, mulled it for a few moments and then said "About two hundred miles north to south and maybe three hundred west to east, but that's just an estimate. I've never covered the entire island."

"It's not an island!" Quin said, eyes wide in shock. "It's a freaking continent!"

The drow ghost gave a brief half-hearted laugh for the halfling's effort at exaggeration. "Well, compared to most other islands, perhaps it's big."

"How is it that this island is this big and has gone unnoticed all this time?" the ranger asked curiously. "It has no name and I've never seen it on any maps until the half-man showed me his."

The ghost shrugged. "Perhaps it wasn't originally here, if we take in to effect that it can move."

Quin scratched his chin thoughtfully. "I wonder where it came from."

"Who cares?" Bishop replied. "Let's just get moving."

**xxxxxxxxxx**

They'd covered a good fifteen miles before their newest companion, a drow from the 'other side', began speaking of the island inhabitants.

"The natives are a peaceful people, as I have mentioned," the ghost began as the trio and a cat-bear strolled along behind him. "However, they will most likely be wary of your presence and they will not initiate any type of communication or otherwise. Especially not to the drow. I'm afraid she will probably not be welcome at first."

Bishop laughed. "She's used to that."

Jaelyn didn't reply. She was walking silently beside him, but her gaze was set firmly on her feet and she seemed to still be in some kind of inner prison, lost in thought.

The ghost went quiet for a moment, seeming to be as lost in thought as Jaelyn was. There was a frown on his ethereal face.

"Indeed." he finally spoke in a distant manner and then continued, "The natives do not speak Common, I'm afraid. They have a dialect that took me many years to understand. However, some of them do speak drow."

"Isn't that kind of odd?" Quin asked. "I mean, how'd they even learn it in the first place?"

"Why, I taught them, of course." the ghost replied with a smile. "Before I died, that is. I thought if I wanted to establish some kind of alliance with these people then it would be wise to learn to communicate with them. It was the first step in the alliance. We passed on our languages to each other. But alas, I never made it to the next step.

"Anyway, the natives are primitive in nature, but highly religious as well. They revere this island as if it's a divine being instead of the hunk of land we see it as. They worship it. That's why they are wary of uninvited guests. They fear the island will come to harm."

"But if they think it's divine, wouldn't they also think it would be indestructible...uh, immortal?" Quin inquired.

"They don't know gods as we know them. They only know the island." the ghost replied. "And more over, they are a people dominated by the laws of nature. The island has seasons and the natives understand them as the island's life cycles, much like their own life cycles; youth in spring, adulthood in summer and so on. During winter, they mourn the passing of the 'land' and during the start of spring, they celebrate its resurrection. It's difficult to explain. The natives can tell you better than I can. They were the first people here; it is because of this that they are so connected to this place. It's a being to them as much as they see themselves as beings; it gives life, things are born from it. They believe they were created from it, so the island is merely an omnificent entity to them, the reason they exist."

The halfling grabbed his own head. "This is all making my head spin."

"All you need to know is that the natives worship the island." the ghost clarified for the halfling. "So you'd be wise to leave it be, lest you anger the people."

Bishop snorted. "So, what if we do? It's not like they'll do anything about it."

"Perhaps not." said the ghost coldly. "But we want to be on the natives' good side nonetheless."

"What else do we need to know about them?" Quin asked.

"They are a small group of about a hundred and fifty. They are lead by a tough, hardened man called Olland, though everything is truly run by a council, which is made up of all the male heads of the main native families. Olland, however, is the head of the council, thus the chief or leader of the people." the ghost drow explained. "Mostly he oversees the council meetings and makes sure nothing gets out of hand. He also has the last say in any decision the council makes."

"So, how're we going to help them if they aren't going to welcome us?" asked the halfling.

"It may take some convincing, but I think I can talk them into accepting you into their village." the ghost replied a little uncertainly. "They know me, of course, from when I was alive and they know me now as the one that has been keeping the drow away. So I doubt they will refuse you for long if I tell them they can trust you."

"_If_?" Bishop demanded in a dangerous tone.

The ghost drow laughed nervously. "Er...did I say 'if'? I meant 'when'."

"And we're going to train them how to fight?" Quin inquired.

"I'm hoping you will. It all depends on the natives' willingness to learn from outsiders and your willingness to teach them."

Finally, after a good six hours or so of silence, Jaelyn rose her head and looked at the ghost. "What's your name?"

She had been quiet because she was thinking about things like the island, but mostly she was thinking about their new ghost companion and this strange feeling she had for him, this feeling that she somehow knew him, even if it was impossible.

The ghost paused and looked at her a little uneasily over his shoulder. "My name?"

"Yes, your name. That thing you were given at birth." she replied smartly. That feeling was irritating her.

"My name is...Gulaonar." the ghost replied, turned and walked onward.

Jaelyn wasn't surprised that she'd never heard the name before. She _was_ surprised that she'd never heard the name before and yet that feeling towards him still persisted. It was probably never going to go away; as if she didn't have enough things going on inside herself that she had to deal with. She was really starting to miss those quiet nights in the cavern with the clan, or those cool, breezy early hours when she and Elegy sat side by side on the top of the home mountain and watched the stars fade with the approach of dawn. Those had been peaceful times, they had been times Jaelyn understood. But no, she had to leave it all just to explore, to meet people who hated her, to seek out adventure with a slightly insane halfling and a stupid man who seemed to make it his goal in life to push her and challenge her, to put strange feelings in her, yet make it impossible for himself to be receptive of those things. Now there was this feeling about this ghost...

It seemed to the other two that Jaelyn's question, as simple as it had been, had somehow made the ghost rather...uncomfortable and perhaps weary. The ranger peered closely at the back of the ghost's head, wandering what turmoil might be going on in there. He'd always assumed ghosts didn't have feelings, you know, because feelings were really just caused by glands, and ghosts, as far as he knew, didn't have any, but apparently, this one was feeling something unpleasant. He shifted his gaze to the living drow at his side, walking with her head down, a deep dent of concentration in her brow and a frustrated look on her face. She seemed to be feeling the same things the former drow was. For some reason unknown to him, Bishop was suddenly reminded of the tale Jaelyn had told them about herself before they'd left the mainland, about how her mother had tried to drown her in a river because she was drow. An abrupt thought formed. He considered it in slight surprise for a moment and then looked between the two drow, his gold eyes slightly gleaming with forbidden knowledge. He understood something now as he considered the similarities between the two drow. Bishop slowly allowed himself a cunning smirk.

Jaelyn caught the look. "What're you smiling about?"

"Oh, nothing."

She wasn't convinced, and she didn't care much for the smile. It was nice to look at it, but she knew what it meant when this particular man smiled: trouble.

The quartet and a cat-bear trudged on for another ten miles or so, mostly in silence. They covered a lot of ground that day, almost over fifty miles, despite all of them being stricken with fatigue.

When they decided to call it a day and made camp in a small clearing, they were near exhaustion. Well, except the ghost, but the ghost understood that he was dealing with the living here and the living were prone to things like fatigue and exhaustion. In his current form, the ghost never got tired. However, his shadow form had a limit and often he would have to change to his ghost form to recover strength. Sometimes, though, he got tired in another sense. It was a fatigue of the soul, but his soul was currently feeling other things to be stricken with any kind of fatigue at the moment.

He watched the group get their camp ready. Mostly, he watched the female drow. Very pretty, he noted, though a lot more light skinned than any normal drow. And those green eyes...Gods, those familiar green eyes.

He wondered how she would react when she met the other drow. He wondered how she'd react when she had to kill one. No, saying she'd have to kill only one was lying to himself. She would kill many, she would have no other choice. The drow would leave her with none. It was the drow mantra, to kill or be killed.

"Since I obviously don't need to sleep," he said. "I will keep watch."

The ghost strode(or really, floated)off to patrol the perimeter. He was being followed and he knew by whom.

Meanwhile, Quin and Jaelyn went about laying their bed rolls out and then collecting firewood for the camp fire. Feral was curling up on Jaelyn's bed roll, looking forward to the dreams he might have of chasing down prey or, knowing the cat-bear, mauling it.

"You all right?" Quin asked the drow.

Jaelyn looked up from her task of stacking the firewood to regard him with a forced smile.

"Yes, just tired is all."

"Are you sure that's all?"

She only nodded and the halfling let the subject drop. Jaelyn blessed him for it. She didn't know what she'd do without Quin. He was the one that counteracted Bishop's aggressive personality; where the ranger would have kept on, the halfling knew to stop. She was glad she was with him presently and not the other. Right now, she just wanted to be left alone to her thoughts.

Back toward the forest, the ranger closed in on his ghostly prey.

"I am aware of you following me, you know." said the ghost.

"Oh, I know." said Bishop, coming to a stop behind the apparition, his arms crossed. "So, the ghost has a secret, does he?"

Gulaonar swirled around and there was a glare on his ghostly visage.

"As much as you do." he growled. "We all have our secrets."

"Yeah, but yours is pretty big."

"What would you know about it?"

"More than you think. I saw the looks. I'm not blind."

"You misinterpret what you see, ranger. Back off." he warned.

Bishop smiled. "I know exactly what I'm seeing. I think she might know as well. At least, she's considering it a possibility."

"Considering what? I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Yes, you do." the ranger replied curtly, annoyed with the ghost trying to play dumb. "She's never going to be certain of it, you know. She'll mull it over until it drives her crazy, but she'll never admit it to herself."

"What do you care, anyway?"

"I don't," he replied quickly. "But you do..you know, since you're-"

"Enough!" the ghost cut him off furiously, not wanting the bastard to say it aloud in case someone might be listening. "Never speak of it, especially not to her, at least not yet. There are many here who wouldn't hesitate to use that knowledge against us."

"Like me, for example?"

The ghost gave him a confused look. "What?"

Bishop stepped closer to the apparition, a sinister look on his face.

"The table's have turned, ghost." he said, roughly. "You're going to lead me to that treasure, or I'm going to tell her what you're keeping from her."

"You wouldn't dare!"

"I wouldn't?"

The ghost considered him for a moment, staring at him closely. What he saw left him stricken. The stern, hard look on the man's face told him that he was not bluffing. He had a feeling this man rarely ever bluffed.

"Fine." Gulaonar conceded. "I'll lead you to it, but only after we have reached the village and only after you have helped them."

"I'm the one calling the shots." Bishop said firmly. "You'll take me to it once we've reached the village. Understand?"

"As you wish." the ghost gave in. "You're a real bastard."

"So I've been told."

Back at camp, Jaelyn had struck a nice campfire, which was blazing furiously, creating a warm orange glow in the clearing. She sat on her bed roll with her legs stretched out, one crossed over the other as she leaned back on her elbows. She stared up at the ring of sky above them, which was deepening to a dark velvety purple. A few stars winked down at them prematurely.

Quin sat across the fire from her, idly, looking bored and hungry. He reached out for his pack, rummaged through it for something to tide him over until dinner, whenever that was going to be. He paused when his hand grazed over his map. He was reminded of what the ghost had told them about the island moving. If it truly was, then maybe studying the map would at least help them get an idea of what may lie in its path.

Quin pulled the map out, unfolded it, and let out a cry of surprise.

"Yipe!"

Jaelyn looked over at him quickly to see him staring wide-eyed at his map.

"Quin?"

The halfling looked up at her and she had never seen such a startled look on Quin's face before.

"What's wrong?"

Quin scrambled over toward her, nearly sitting on Feral in his frenzy, who let out a squeak before snapping at the halfling's leg in warning. Quin hardly noticed it. He pushed the map into Jaelyn's hands.

"Look!"

She did. She was as startled as the halfling.

On the map, the island, nothing more than a geenish-brown blob was moving. It strode at a snail's pace along the parchment and it seemed to be making a journey south between Evermeet and the Moonshae Isles. Jaelyn shook her head in disbelief and then cracked a smile.

After a moment, she started to laugh and Quin wondered briefly if she'd lost it.

"Well, at least we know now if it's going to crash into something or not." she said when the laughter subsided. "You never mentioned the map was magic, Quin."

He stared at her with widened eyes. "I never knew. No wonder Malar Claw gave up so much for it. I always thought he just wanted the treasure it led to, but if it's magical, it must be very valuable. I wonder what else it can do."

"You're probably looking at all it can do." Jaelyn replied.

Quin and Jaelyn studied it for a while, mostly to see if it would do something else. A couple of times, the halfling swore he saw a whale leap out of the 'water'. Jaelyn insisted it was his imagination, though she herself thought she might have seen a shark fin.

Some time later, the ranger came striding out of the darkened woods, carrying a dead pheasant-turkey thing and a dead rabbit. There was a frown on his face.

"You'd think there'd be more than just these two animals out there." he remarked. "But apparently, there isn't."

He stepped over beside Jaelyn and dropped the dead things into her lap. Quin barely had enough time to jerk the map out of the way.

"Hey, watch it!" he protested, wiping at a small stain of blood that had dropped onto the parchment.

Bishop ignored him, his gaze on the drow. "You're gutting them this time."

She didn't argue, mostly because she was too tired to.

Jaelyn plucked the bird first, which would mostly be fed to Feral. No one among them seemed to like poultry. Then she went about skinning the rabbit, placing the fur on a nearby rock to be dried. She was sure they could use the fur for something sooner or later. Bishop never did anything with the furs when he skinned them, which irritated her. She believed strongly in using as much of an animal as possible.

When she had removed the entrails from both carcasses, she looked to him to start cooking them since he was by far the best cook among them, but she saw that he was leaning back against a tree, looking very much asleep. Jaelyn decided to let him be. He'd probably get all cranky and irritated if she woke him. Besides, she liked him better when he was unconscious; he couldn't speak.

After a while, the camp was filled with the delicious aroma of cooking meat. Feral was no longer able to sleep due to this. He stood near the fire, staring in anticipation at the roasting meat, salivating all over Jaelyn's bed roll.

The drow reached out a hand and scooted him back.

"Do you mind?"

He gave her a pleading look.

"It'll be ready soon. Hold your horses."

Feral had no idea what horses were, but supposed he understood what she meant by her statement. He sat down and whined slightly.

The moment the bird was done and Jaelyn removed it from its spit, Feral snatched it away and hunched over it, tearing it apart and wolfing it down.

"Hells," Quin said. "That thing not only looks a little bit like a bear but it eats like one as well."

Jaelyn swallowed and nodded, her appetite now nonexistent. "It's a little disturbing."

She went about portioning the rabbit meat, only cutting off a little bit for herself and then handed Quin his. When he looked up at her, she nodded her head toward the sleeping ranger.

"Do you mind?"

Quin grinned and shook his head. "No way. I've been told to never wake a sleeping bear, or in his case, wolf." He looked thoughtful for a moment, considered how quick the ranger was to anger. "No, maybe bear's a better description. In any case, he's all yours."

Jaelyn scowled at him. "I thought we were friends."

"Oh, we are, it's just he's more likely to kill me than he is to kill you."

"Somehow I doubt that."

She got up regretfully and Quin was grinning at her, not that she could see it. She held a stick with the meat on it in her right hand as she approached the man. Jaelyn knelt beside him and was surprised when he didn't wake up immediately. She'd learned over their travels together that he was usually a really light sleeper. Today, however, was different. She supposed it had a lot to do with only four hours of sleep the previous night and a full day of walking through a forest.

Jaelyn knelt there for a moment, stricken and oddly touched by the peaceful look on his face. It was irritating as much as it was breathtaking. She couldn't understand how someone could look this serene, and warm, and welcoming in their sleep, but become the exact opposite when they were awake. After all the things the ghost had told her before about him, she would have assumed that the Land of Nod would be a place he was most haunted. If it was, it didn't show.

She reached out a hand and shook him roughly, more out of her irritation with him than anything else.

Bishop groaned, cracked open an eye at her and sighed hard in annoyance.

"What do you want?" His voice was gravelly from sleep.

"Time for dinner." she replied indifferently and dropped the meat stick in his lap before returning to her bed roll and her own dinner.

He regarded the food for a moment in confusion, wondering in his grogginess how it had gotten cooked. Apparently, the drow had taken it upon herself to cook it, and ruin it by the looks of it. But he was too tired to argue about it.

It never once occurred to him that she might have sacrificed her own chance to get some much needed rest so that he could.


	9. Chapter 9: Pain

**xxxxxx**

* * *

**Chapter Nine:**

**Pain**

**xxxxxx**

**It** was mid morning and there was a strange fog about the forest floor, creating a hazy and somewhat eerie atmosphere around the trio as they strode through the thick brush. They were led by a ghostly figure, an apparition in the form of a male drow who went by the name of Gulaonar. Behind them, a small, furry creature followed along, trying to keep in stride with the female drow among them.

The living triad was quiet, their attentions focused either on their surroundings or their thoughts. They had been mostly silent all morning; well, except the halfling, who'd awoken in a slightly more perky mood than usual, due to all the sleep he'd gotten the night before. They had all gotten a good rest, but it seemed the only one it had a positive effect on was Quin. He'd been whistling the tune of _The Sun Comes Up Again_ since he'd awoken and had yet to quit despite the fact that he'd whistled it twenty times, much to the annoyance of his companions. There was nothing worse than getting a song stuck in your head, especially a song you didn't care for.

Jaelyn was still in a quieter mood than usual, lost in her own private world. Even Bishop was caught in some kind of inner dimension, though he was slightly more aware of the outside world while inside the gray walls of his mind. The drow seemed consumed by her own. He kept risking glances at her to find her staring at the ground, unblinking. She was far from reality. If he wanted to, he could put a dagger between her shoulder blades and she probably wouldn't even realize it until it was too late.

He shook his head in exasperation; he'd warned her about not paying attention to her surroundings, but it seemed like she wasn't one for listening to other people's advice. Whatever, it was her problem.

Apparently, the ranger should've been heeding his own advice; he was not as aware of his surroundings as he'd first thought.

He'd walked under the branch of a nearby tree and something dropped down from the branches right in front of him. That something turned out to be a mischievously smirking drow, wielding a knife.

Despite his uncanny reflexes, Bishop couldn't recover from his startlement in time.

The dagger in the upside down drow's hand sank home, embedding itself just below and slightly to the right of the ranger's left shoulder, a bit too close to his heart for comfort.

Bishop tried his best to ignore the white hot pain. He backed up and drew his sword in retaliation. He didn't get a chance to use it, for an arrow whizzed by within an inch of his face (he'd actually felt the wind of its passage) and struck the hanging drow right between the eyes. The drow died with a surprised look on his face and his body hung limply from the tree, refusing gravity. Bishop craned his head to see that the drow's legs and feet were hooked around sturdy limbs to keep him upside down, and now that his legs were no longer operational, the tree limbs had taken over the job of keeping him in that position.

Meanwhile, at the same time one drow was attacking the ranger, another in a tree on the opposite side of the group where Quin was standing took advantage of the distraction and dropped down, grabbing the halfling underneath his arms and hauling him up into the tree. Quin was able to get off a yelp before he disappeared among the leaves and branches.

Jaelyn spun and aimed her bow, an arrow already nocked in record time. Her sharp eyes scanned the foliage and though much of the tree was moving about, Jaelyn couldn't see who was causing it.

"You bastard!" Gulaonar yelled from somewhere at her right, and then his ghostly form began to grow dark and sinister.

The kidnapping drow, keeping a firm hold of the halfling, slipped out of the tree, and landed agilely on his feet before taking off into the forest, a hail of arrows, one shot directly right after the other, following after him, thunking into numerous tree trunks. Woody groans followed each arrow that struck into bark and limbs flailed angrily. Jaelyn wondered briefly why the damn plants didn't attack the drow that had been hiding among their foliage. Apparently, they were of a neutral alignment; as long as you didn't attack them, they didn't mind you.

Feral, with a surprisingly intimidating growl, darted off after the drow. Jaelyn wasted no time in throwing down her bow and rushing off after them as well. Gulaonar's form wavered in the midst of his transformation into shadow and then faded back to his ghostly shape. It seemed his transformation had failed. He stood there, staring in the direction Jaelyn and Feral had run off to and slowly shook his head.

"She won't catch him."

"Probably not." the ranger remarked, pressing a hand to his wound with a hiss of pain. "You might have caught him."

Gulaonar shook his head again as he looked down at himself. "No, not in my condition. I haven't the strength yet to change forms. It takes a lot out of me and I haven't yet recovered from the last time."

He sighed and it was accompanied by a sound that reminded the ranger of wind blowing through a window that hasn't been shut all the way. "I should have expected an ambush by them. There is another way into their stronghold, the ruined temple they have called home. It's around here somewhere, but I have never been able to locate it and I'm sure it's probably protected against the likes of me. That's likely where they came from and that's where the one who kidnapped your friend will be returning."

"He's not my friend." Bishop replied callously as he grabbed the hilt sticking out of his shoulder and gave it a yank, releasing a grunt of pain when the blade came out.

"Your wound?" the ghost inquired, watching him.

The blade hadn't gone too deep, only a few inches but the wound was bleeding kind of heavy and most likely it was going to need to be sutured.

"I've had worse."

Bishop held the blade up and studied it. There was some kind of gooey-looking blue stuff near the point, mixed in with his own blood. He didn't much care for the sight of it, feeling a little twinge of panic in his gut as he realized what it might be. When he reached an experimental finger toward it, Gulaonar confirmed it.

"Don't touch it." he warned, urgently, drawing the ranger's gaze. "That substance...I know it."

"It better not be what I think it is."

Their gazes met. Gulaonar nodded regretfully, much to the ranger's irritation.

"Poison."

"Well, that's just fucking great." Bishop grumbled angrily. He had the worst luck in the world. Sometimes he seriously wondered if there truly were gods and if they were all just out to get him. Surely, he hadn't made such a terrible impact on them that they'd devote their precious time to torture him in cruel and unusual ways. There had to be people out there worse than him. If the gods were real, he wished those bastards up there would just leave him alone every once in a while.

"Right," he went on in a bitter tone. "So what kind of poison is it? Fatal?"

"Luckily for you, no." Gulaonar replied. "Um...not as such, I mean. As long as you're conscious and have a high pain threshold, you'll be fine. Er...that is, you won't die. Although, some have been known to die from the pain."

"Oh, good. I thought it was going to be something bad."

"However," the ghost continued, ignoring the ranger's blatant sarcasm and then paused, nervously. Ghosts usually weren't nervous about much, mostly because there was nothing that could really harm them, but something about this man's quickness to anger unsettled him. It probably had a lot to do with the fact that the man was unpredictable and a bit mentally unstable, therefore, there was no telling when he could snap. That made for a very dangerous person, and there were the lives of Jaelyn and Quin to consider.

Bishop scowled at him and inwardly cursed the gods.

"Out with it already."

"The poison is a drow specialty." Gulaonar explained. "It was created purposely as a form of torture, mostly used to make someone give up information or sometimes to send a message to someone. It never failed to get results. I've seen it used many times, and I've been victim to it as well. It feels as if acid is running through every vein, as if thousands of burning knives are being thrust under your skin. It starts out as an unpleasant tingle at first, but gradually it grows worse. There are moments when the pain subsides, only for it to start again, ten times more painful than the last round. You convulse violently under the torture simply because your body can't help it. I've seen victims bludgeon themselves to death under their own agonized throes. The onset usually occurs within ten minutes from the moment you were inflicted with it."

The ranger looked positively murderous.

"Tell me there's a godsdamned cure for this."

"Actually, there is-"

"Good, then-"

"Unfortunately," Gulaonar cut in firmly. "It's at the drow's stronghold."

"Now that figures."

"And I'm afraid we cannot create a cure, either. It's made from ingredients found only in the Underdark. However, there is a plus side."

"Is there?" Bishop snapped. "I don't see a plus side within a hundred mile radius of this situation, but, by all means, continue."

"The poison is not permanent and it will cause no damage to your body. And...it'll only last two hours."

"Oh, good. Only _two hours_." Bishop replied caustically. "And I'll probably only wish I was _dead_ within one hour."

The ghost shrugged. "I would travel to the temple and retrieve the cure, but the drow have put up some kind of device that I cannot bypass, some kind of orbs that repel me. It wouldn't matter, anyway. By the time I'd return, the poison would have left your system."

Bishop gave the ghost a look that was by far the most unpleasant thing Gulaonar had ever seen, and he came from the Underdark, so that was saying a lot.

"There's going to be a lot of dead drow around here after this." the ranger growled furiously. "They're going to wish they'd never left the Underdark."

**xxxxxxxxxx**

Back in the depths of the forest, Jaelyn and Feral chased the fleeing drow, who held Quin over his shoulder. The halfling was unconscious, had been clubbed over the head by his drow kidnapper so he'd quit squirming in the drow's grip. Once he'd almost gotten free, and it was then that the drow clonked him.

Jaelyn had outrun Feral, so she was in front, while the cat-bear struggled to keep pace behind her. She was gaining on the drow, she realized, and so she pushed herself harder, willed her legs to move faster.

They flew across the forest floor at a speed that should've been impossible. If anyone had been watching this from a distance, they might have seen two blurs and one tiny blur go past, and if they'd blinked, they would've missed it. They wouldn't have even been able to tell what they were, anyway.

Jaelyn's lungs were burning, her chest was tight, her legs were beginning to feel like lead, and there was a most painful stitch in her side below her ribs, but she wasn't giving up; she couldn't give up. This was her friend being kidnapped, her best friend, the only one she'd ever had in life, besides Elegy, who didn't really count because he was family.

Angry, Jaelyn swallowed a gulp of air and exhaled in a yell "Let him go, you son of a bitch!"

The drow treated her to an amused laugh and a vulgar suggestion spoken in their language, which only proved to fuel her momentum...and her anger.

It didn't matter.

She followed him for a few moments longer and then the drow shouted a command in their language to seemingly no one in particular, or at least no one that Jaelyn could see, and then suddenly her feet struck something (or technically, this something struck her feet) and she went down. She landed in a side roll, tumbling through the brush, getting side-swiped by branches in numerous exposed places on her person as she went.

When she finally came to a halt, her face and arms were covered in small scratches and she had the misfortune of landing on a conveniently placed rock, which had done a fine job of prodding itself into her ribs and knocking her breath out for a second.

Jaelyn lay there for a moment, wincing and gasping for air. Tears stung her eyes, but they were not tears of pain.

She had failed her friend. The drow had gotten away with Quin. Her Quin...

Feral came sliding to a stop near her and nudged her urgently with one paw, giving a small whine that translated to _Come on, he's getting away, damn it!._

Jaelyn moved to get up, but a bolt whooshed by, actually nicking her cheek before it embedded itself in a nearby tree. As an adept archer herself, she knew that particular move for what it was. The ol' Trick shot, made for the sole purpose of sending a message to an enemy; either that or it was a narrowly missed shot, but Jaelyn was betting on the Trick shot.

She wasn't worried about the message at the moment. The bolt had hit a tree, so she had to throw herself back down again when a branch swung down at her. She then rolled away, scrambled to her feet, and then rushed behind a nearby tree trunk (she made sure it wasn't the same one that had just tried to branch her) and then cautiously peered around it just in time to see a dark, thin shape move against the trees some fifty yards away, stirring up the ground fog. It didn't get far. She watched it move into position and then a small furry shape shot out of the fog and attached itself to the dark shape. The attack was aptly followed by a scream of surprise, horror and pain.

Jaelyn didn't need to be told what was happening. She'd seen that particular attack maneuver before and didn't care to see its end results.

She turned away just in time to avoid seeing the rain of blood and guts, and the body parts that went flying in eight different directions.

Feral may have been a small creature, but he had the bear strength to rip arms out of sockets.

While the cat-bear went about munching on the former drow's intestines, Jaelyn removed herself from behind the tree trunk and began searching the ground for the tracks of the drow that got away with Quin. If she could follow them, then she could find the halfling.

Unfortunately, there was far too much ground fog, so much that she couldn't even see her feet. There was no way she could track anyone in this.

"Damn it!" she swore.

She caught movement out of the corner of her eyes and saw the fog parting behind the cat-bear as he made his way over.

"Are you quite finished now?" she snapped at him.

Feral stood up on his hind legs and looked up at her with a wounded expression, his large, yellow eyes gleaming. The effect was completely devastated by the amount of gore that covered his beige-striped fur (and the bits of intestine hanging out of his mouth). However, Jaelyn had felt bad for snapping at him the moment she'd done it.

"Sorry." she said with a sigh. "I'm just worried. I've heard the things the drow do to their captives. We have to get Quin back."

Feral pawed her leg softly, looked back in the direction they had come, and made a sound that was something between a growl and a chirp. Such a sound should have been impossible, but the cat-bear was pulling it off. Then again, when it came to Feral, things that were supposed to be impossible were quite possible.

Jaelyn's animal empathy translated the sound as 'We should probably head back. Maybe that pale two-leg thing and the grumpy two-leg will have an idea of what to do.'

At the mention of 'grumpy two-leg', Jaelyn remembered the ranger being stabbed. She felt a twinge of concern and wondered if he was alright.

"Let's hurry."

**xxxxxxxxxx**

She heard the masculine cries of agony when she got within two hundred yards of where she'd left the ghost and the human ranger.

Jaelyn's feet moved swiftly across the ground and she didn't care that she might be trampling possible 'living' plants. Her concern was the agonized cries, which sounded very much like someone being tortured to death.

Feral kept a steady pace behind her, still covered in the blood of yet another ill-fated drow. The cat-bear seemed to have a unique taste for dark elves. Hopefully, it was only full drow that appealed to his stomach.

Jaelyn came to an abrupt halt when her remaining companions came into view, her heart hammering from exertion, but then it sped up even more by what her pale green eyes fell upon.

Bishop was sitting in a slouched position against a tree, convulsing in excruciating pain. Gulaonar was hovering nearby, looking on helplessly.

Jaelyn hurried over to the ranger, kneeling on the ground beside him. His face was contorted in an expression of utmost torment as he writhed against the intense discomfort afflicting him. He was sweating and trembling continually. But even through the torture, Jaelyn saw a familiar fire beginning to blaze in the depths of those golden eyes. The pain was making him angry.

Jaelyn looked over the wound just below his shoulder, noting that it was still bleeding, but not very much. She reached out to undo the fastenings, clasps, and things on his leather armor to access the injury, but even in his state, he wasn't having it.

His hand wrapped around her wrist and tightened on her with a strength that should have been impossible for someone in his current condition. It was a vise grip that hurt and when she tried to pull back in alarm, he shoved her away, setting a furious glare on her.

Jaelyn sent the look right back.

"I'm trying to help you!" she shouted at him, frustrated with his stubbornness when it came to people helping him. He needed it more now than ever, as it appeared.

He opened his mouth, tried to speak, but the only thing he could manage was a furious yell of defiance when the next wave of pain intensified. He flailed about, as if he could physically ward off the agony. Leave it to him to think violence could solve anything, even the intangible.

The angry fire in his eyes was nearly extinguished by the pain. The natural luster in them dulled and for one horrified moment, Jaelyn feared he would give in to it, the sweet darkness that must be hanging tantalizingly over him. His eyes were threatening to close, and though she had no idea what was wrong with him, she somehow knew that if he shut his eyes, they were never going to open again.

Not presently caring for what consequences might arise in the future, Jaelyn reached out and smacked him in the face, hard and back-handed.

Bishop's eyes grew wide and the angry fire was rekindled. In fact, he looked positively peeved, despite the presence of the painful poison inside him. He had no idea how he even felt it over the acid in his veins, but his body had somehow registered the sudden violence on his person. If he dared to move, he might have smacked her right back.

Jaelyn leaned close to him, a stone-hard expression on her face as she stared deep into his.

"Stay awake, you miserable bastard." she hissed at him. "You're not dying yet."

A hand reached out and snatched the front of her leather armor, yanking her within an inch of his face.

"Bitch." he was able to get out through clenched teeth and then he let her go, arrested again by another wave of searing acid.

He groaned as Jaelyn turned and looked at Gulaonar, her face becoming an expression of concern.

"What's wrong with him?" she asked. "The wound isn't bad, so I know it isn't that."

Gulaonar looked at her for a long time, wondering where her concern was coming from, why it should be there in the first place, or why she should even feel it at all for someone like Bishop, who wouldn't have cared if it were her in his position and probably wished it was.

"He's been poisoned." the former drow said at last.

Jaelyn's green eyes grew wide. "Poison? How? What is it? Is it fatal? Is there a cure? Wha-"

Gulaonar put his ghostly hands up in the air. "Slow down. The poison isn't very fatal. It's just something my people-our people-use as a form of torture or to send a message. There's a cure, but it's at the temple and that is a place I cannot go. The drow have put up some kind of magic field I dare not go near. And before you even think it, for I already see the look in your eyes, you cannot go yourself. You'll never make it passed their defenses and even if you did, you'd never get out in time, the poison will have worn off and you will have wasted a trip and put your life in danger for nothing."

"So, just leave him like this? Let him suffer?" she demanded in outrage.

Gulaonar shrugged. "There is not much else that can be done."

"There has to be something!"

"There isn't."

Jaelyn sighed heavily.

"How long will it affect him?"

"Two hours."

"Two hours! Gods..."

"What you did a moment ago was correct." Gulaonar went on, solemnly. "You must keep him conscious. Many have never come back from the darkness once they've fallen to it. As of this moment, his will and your interference are the only things guaranteed to keep him alive through this."

"What about a Neutralize Poison spell? I know one. Would that work?"

If anyone had been paying him attention, they might have seen a grudgingly placed look of very (very) slight gratitude on Bishop's face as he looked on Jaelyn. Neutralize Poison spell...even he hadn't thought of that.

Gulaonar gave her a look. "Do you truly think the drow would create a poison that could be that easily countered?"

Her faced showed much of her dejection. "Oh..."

Jaelyn sighed and sat back beside Bishop, giving his leg a comforting pat. "Hang in there."

An hour later, she was the one sitting with her back against the tree, her arms around the terribly convulsing ranger. She had no choice in the matter, despite her reluctance of being within his reach (or having any physical contact with him at all). Those convulsions had gotten so bad that she feared he'd harm himself and so she was forced to hold him down, or technically to hold him back, for that was the position they were in. Admittedly, she felt sorry for him. In fact, she'd probably never felt more sorry for anyone in her life and seeing him like this, in this much agony, saddened her. He may have been a terrible bastard, but not even terrible bastards deserved to be in this much pain. With this deep pity came that maternal need to comfort, though it actually went a little more deeper than that and had a lot more to do with instinctual desires and emotions. And maybe she was stupid and naive enough to think that her deed might affect him some how. But it all made her realize something as well, something that should've been obvious to her. It made her realize that even though he didn't normally act like a decent human being, seeing him in pain was proof that there was actually something that could be considered human underneath all the cold, hard armor and general darkness, albeit a very small something. Still, if it was there, perhaps there might be hope.

Jaelyn held him back against her with one becalming hand running through his damp hair. Her soft face was pressed close as she whispered soothing words in his ear.

What else could be done? She was doing the only thing she knew to do.

It was something no one had ever done for him before. She might have thought she was helping, that she was trying to lessen the pain or keep his mind off of it, but she was doing no such thing. In fact, she was making his battle that much more difficult, for now he was not only fighting the pain, but her as well, her and all the unwanted thoughts barreling in on him in his moment of weakness. They were thoughts of desire, thoughts with the sole intent of getting him into trouble, thoughts that had him considering her under softer lights and not those harsh ones he considered all people under.

He forced them away, successfully.

Who cares what she was doing for him? Who cares if she was trying to help? He hadn't asked for it. He didn't want it. If she was expecting something of him for it, expecting him to be affected by it, or touched by it, she was going to be sorely disappointed. Such things were wasted on him and she was a fool to even try.

Jaelyn pressed her face against his while her hand made a soft, caressing motion against his opposite cheek. She did this with the back of her hand, for the tips of her fingers were covered in callouses and they would've definitely ruined the moment.

"Strange. I actually feel sorry for you." she spoke and he vaguely felt her mouth curve into a smile against his cheek. "I didn't think such a thing was possible. I had always assumed something bad like this happening to you would be well-deserved, but I don't think it is. No one deserves this, not even you."

There was a moment of silence on his part, much to Jaelyn's slightly disturbed surprise; she was expecting some biting remark as if it were a reflex, for such things ran like clockwork where Bishop was concerned. It just went to show you that he truly was more unpredictable than she had first thought.

He had to gather the strength to speak. The pain was still present but it was lessening very slowly.

"Touching." he finally replied in a tone dribbling with his trademark sarcasm.

It was a bit relieving to hear. Jaelyn had almost been worried that something might be wrong with him...you know, mentally. Well, one could fill a text book with all his many emotional issues and personality disorders, but Jaelyn wasn't exactly feeling analytic at the moment.

"You should be touched." she replied. "Not many people would hold such an opinion about you."

"Like I care."

"Is that how you show gratitude?"

"I didn't ask for your help." he growled.

"No, you didn't." she conceded. "But that's what a selfless act is, Bishop. You do something for someone without being asked and without expecting something in return."

"There are no selfless acts." he replied, bitterly. "Anything anyone does, they're always expecting something in return."

"Well, I'm not." Jaelyn said, firmly.

"Oh, no? You're not expecting me to be grateful about it?"

"Well, that's diff-"

"No, it isn't. It's all the same." he snapped. "You did something 'nice' because you expected something in return. So don't try to pawn it off to me as some selfless act, because they don't exist."

Jaelyn sat there a moment, unable to believe her ears. Then she couldn't believe all that time she'd wasted, sitting there with him through the pain. Now she was starting to see how someone could deserve it.

She moved away from him, disgusted, and got to her feet, thinking angrily of all she'd wasted on him when she could've been out finding Quin, her true friend, her only friend. There was no friend there, not in Bishop and not in Gulaonar. She just wanted Quin back.

She stood there rigidly for a few moments, the ranger watching her closely, watching the anger unfold itself, and then she whirled and gave him a cold look. It was by far the coldest look she'd ever given him, or anyone for that matter.

"The next time something like this happens," she said, that ice on her face now in her voice as well. Icebergs weren't even this cold. "You can suffer it alone."

"Fine with me."

He didn't even hesitate, which only infuriated her the more.

Glowering at him, she stomped away to her pack and yanked her canteen out, and then gave it a rough shake. It figured; the damn thing was empty.

Jaelyn stood up and went out into the woods, making her way toward the stream that she knew was close by. To her surprise, Gulaonar was following along behind her.

"Shouldn't you stay with..._him_?" she said over her shoulder and with a disgusted face. "If any drow happen by, they might..."

She trailed off, shaking her head at her own words. Why was she even bothering? Why did she even care what happened to him?

"He doesn't deserve this," the ghost said. "This kindness you show him. He isn't worthy of it, not of your concern, nor of the kindness of your heart."

Jaelyn walked on toward the stream, frowning. She remained silent.

"No matter what you do to show him your concern, he will never return those feelings. He doesn't care about anything. Surely, you see this."

She did; she understood that her concern for him would never be returned, but sometimes, you just couldn't help what was in your heart, nor the path it chose, no matter if you could see where it was leading or not.

"You have a good heart, Jaelyn." Gulaonar went on. "A heart very rarely found in any drow and a heart very different from his, so why, my child, do you waste it on him? Why do you care for him?"

Jaelyn sighed wretchedly. "Because...Because...I don't know! It's obvious by the way he is and the way he acts that no one has ever cared about him."

The ghost gave her a weird look. "And so you feel it is your obligation, your responsibility to care about him?"

She shook her head with a frown. "No. I just know the feeling when the whole world hates you. It's awful. Everyone just seems to expect the worst out of him. Even me sometimes."

"Perhaps that is because he only allows his worst parts to show through. Or maybe that's all that's left of him."

She looked at the ghost seriously. "There's more to him than what he shows; I know it, I _feel_ it."

"Did it ever occur to you that he might actually deserve all the hate?"

Jaelyn frowned. "I can't see anyone deserving of it."

"Then it's a good thing you aren't able to see his memories as I do. You would change your mind in a heartbeat."

"Why? Because of the violence and bloodshed you mentioned to me before?" she replied, very surprised by her own words. Was she seriously defending this lunatic? "Look, whatever he's done, it's the past and no ones' is perfect."

"Perhaps not," Gulaonar replied. "But he doesn't exactly have a perfect present, and his future doesn't look too bright, either. It sounds to me like you're trying to make up excuses for him, for how he is, or maybe you do realize someone like that doesn't change and you're just trying to make up excuses for your feelings for him."

"I'm not trying to do anything." she shot back defensively.

The stream came into view and so Jaelyn hurried toward it, but the ghost was behind her every step.

"Do not waste yourself on him." he said, trying to get through to her. "He will destroy that good heart of yours if you let him."

Jaelyn knelt on the bank, trying desperately to ignore him while she filled her canteen. Tears blurred her eyes and she hastily blinked them away. Her chest was hurting.

"I hope you will heed my advice." Gulaonar went on. "I'd hate to see you get hurt."

"What do you care?" she snapped. "You don't even know me."

"Perhaps not, my child," he replied softly. "But we are alike, you and I. More than you know."

Jaelyn was sick of hearing that. The ranger kept saying it and now this damn ghost was saying it.

She turned to give Gulaonar a stern talking-to, but he was gone.

When she returned from the stream, she saw him hovering near Bishop, who was giving the ghost an expression that said he wished he'd go away.

Jaelyn strode up to the ranger, a glare firmly set in place and dropped her canteen in his lap.

"Drink it," she said roughly. "Hopefully, you'll choke on it."

He gave her a winning smile, twisted the cap off the canteen and took a long, refreshing drink from it. Jaelyn then turned to Gulaonar. It was time they came up with a plan to get Quin back.

"They got away with Quin." she said, angrily. "Why did they take him? What do they want with him?"

"I cannot say."

"Can't say or _won't_?" she demanded, stealing the ranger's words right out of his mouth before he even had a chance.

"Cannot." Gulaonar said firmly. "I could speculate, however, though I doubt it would help in getting your friend back. Drow don't usually take captives, at least not without a good reason. We usually just kill. So, if they took him, they must want him for something. This, to me, makes absolutely no sense, for they would have no use for the halfling that I can think of. They wouldn't even bother enslaving him; it would be a waste of time. It could be that they may try breaking him to their will and perhaps use him to infiltrate the native's camp, given the halfling's affiliation with the Shadow Thief organization, though I don't know how they'd know this unless they were eavesdropping on one of your conversations, which isn't at all impossible."

"How do we get him back?" Jaelyn inquired, crossing her arms over her chest.

Gulaonar shrugged. "As of the moment, we can't. We must get to the native's camp and train them."

"I don't care about them!" Jaelyn shouted angrily. "I want my friend back!"

"You don't seem to understand." the ghost replied in a tone that suggested he might be talking to a child. "You are heavily out-numbered. You can't expect to charge into their temple stronghold and get your friend back. Do so and you'll be dead within seconds. These are drow. They have survived the worst climate in Toril and they will survive you without much effort. However, if you can train over a hundred people to fight like the both of you, you stand a chance."

"But we can't just leave Quin to them."

"There's not much else that can be done." Gulaonar replied gently. "So long as he remains useful to them, he will live."

Jaelyn scoffed. "Yes, but broken to them. He will no longer be Quin."

An expression of sadness and regret passed over Gulaonar's ghostly visage. Slowly, he shook his head as he looked on Jaelyn.

"I'm sorry, my child."


	10. Chapter 10: Under Attack

**xxxxxx**

* * *

**Chapter Ten:**

**Under Attack**

**xxxxxx**

**Quin** came to with a groan only to find that he had a terrible headache, which seemed to be centered around the back of his head.

He failed to open his eyes at first, mostly because it felt as if there were anchors sitting on them, and so he merely listened to his environment for a moment and tried to figure out where he was. There was an awful smell, a sour, decaying odor that was far beyond offensive and made him want to gag.

He was in a sitting position, he knew that much, for his head felt heavy, there was something hard against his back that was keeping him propped up, as well as a hardness under his backside, and when he tried to move his arms, he found that they wouldn't budge. Something was securing them behind him, probably rope, and it dug into his skin every time he dared to move.

Quin could hear heavy breathing far to his right and then there was the most harrowing sounds of agonized and slightly muffled screams echoing from a distance.

The halfling remained calm despite the circumstances he currently found himself in. A Shadow Thief mentor of his had taught him the proper etiquette of capture and the first rule was never to panic. Of course, his mentor had been an enthusiastic teacher and Quin recalled the many, many times his teacher had him randomly kidnapped by other Shadow Thieves to test him. So, Quin was far from scared, presently. For him, it was just another test.

He opened his eyes to find that his drow kidnapper had placed him in a room surrounded by four stone walls, as well as had him seated in the middle of the room in a wooden chair with his hands secured and his legs tied together. His kidnapper was no where to be seen.

The room was dully lit by a small, wrought-iron chandelier that hung over Quin's head. To his left were numerous devices for torture, many the halfling could recite the name of, when it was constructed and who constructed it. His mentor had used them on him in an effort to create cold, hard and impenetrable mental and physical discipline in his pupil. That was the first things a potential Shadow Thief learned; taught to withstand torture of almost any kind, for rule number one among the organization was to never talk, never divulge information about the organization, no matter what was done to you to make you spill the beans. However, the halfling had never undergone drow torture, one of the worst kinds known to the Realms.

Quin looked to his right to see that wall lined with cells, three of them. He was a little startled to see a strange looking man in the middle one, secured in chains against the wall. He was large and muscular and there were strange green markings on his skin underneath all the blood, dirt, and sweat that marred him. The tattoos twined around his bulging arms and there was even a very elaborate one across his forehead. The man's head was hung, his long black hair hanging over his shoulders.

Quin wondered how he even got captured given his enormous size. He looked like he could snap a drow in half.

In the cell to the man's left, there was a woman chained up as well and by one arm, for the other was missing. She was dead. Her skin had gone an ugly, repulsive green and Quin surmised that the horrid smell in the room was coming from her. It looked like she had bled to death after having her arm severed; there was a large red stain under her hanging feet and it still looked moist. The missing arm was no where in the vicinity, so the halfling surmised that it must've been moved elsewhere.

Quin frowned. He didn't like the idea of having limbs severed. He needed them to do things.

He shifted his gaze toward the large wooden door in the room and then looked back at the man in the middle cell.

"Hey!" he hissed to him. "Are you alive? Can you hear me?"

The man groaned, but remained still.

Quin tried to rise up in his chair, failed the first few times and then was finally able to thump the chair legs against the stone floor. The sound made the man's head jerk slightly.

"Wake up!" Quin urged him in a harsh whisper. He was afraid of speaking too loud, in case there might be a guard on the other side of that door. If the sound of the chair had drawn attention, at least Quin would've had time to play unconscious. That would not be so if his voice drew attention. They would've known it was him, due to his higher-pitched voice.

Slowly, the man rose his head and there was agony all over his brutish face as well as bruises, gashes, scratches and dried blood. He was a lot luckier than the woman in the other cell. At least he had all his limbs, and, of course, he was also lucky to still be alive.

His haunted blue eyes fell on Quin finally and grew wide in what appeared to be horror to the halfling. Quin offered him a smile in hopes that it would ease him. It didn't.

"Keet!" the man screamed as loud as humanly possible, jerking violently against his chains.

Quin had no clue what he was saying, but the sheer volume and horror in his voice made the halfling blanch.

"Yam'ai ta keet!" the man sobbed, a great flood of tears coming down his face. "Ta keet! Ta keet!"

Quin cringed at the broken sound of the man's voice. Whatever this man was yelling at the top of his lungs, it was obvious to the halfling that it was some form of lament, and apparently, Quin had caused it. The poor man was close to losing his marbles. Quin had thought he might be of some help; it was apparent now that he wouldn't be. In fact, the man was causing trouble with his loudness.

"Look, be quiet, sir." Quin said gently. "Or you're going to get the guards in here. We don't want that, right?"

"Ta keet!" the man replied in emotional agony. "Ta keet!"

"What's this 'Takee' you keep mentioning?" the halfling inquired and then studied the man again. "Wait, are you a native? How'd you get captured by the drow?"

The man's eyes widened and the agony that had been there was replaced by volcanic rage.

"Drow!" he exploded, jerking his chains again, effectively causing the metal to cut into his wrists. If it hurt, he didn't show it. He didn't even notice the amount of blood that was running down his arms from the cuts. "Se drow cyld min kwi!"

Quin rose a brow. "Uh...I understood 'drow', but the rest went right over my head. Sorry."

"Min kwi!" the man shouted, his eyes glistening with tears again.

"Monkey?" Quin ventured.

The native's face contorted into a look of confusion. "Net, kwi. Min kwi."

"Key?"

"Kwi!" the man yelled angrily. "Kwi. Min kwi."

He jerked his head toward the cell with the dead woman in it and then looked at Quin in despair. "Min kwi."

"Er...the woman? But she's dead."

The native sighed deeply in what could only be described as frustration. He pointed a finger down at himself from their chained position.

"Min." he said slowly.

"Right." replied Quin, not understanding. "Min. Whatever that is."

The man pointed at himself again, roughly this time, making his chains jingle and cut a little deeper into his wrists. "Min."

Understanding finally dawned on the halfling.

"You? Min means 'you'...no, that's not right. Min means 'me'."

The native jerked his head toward the dead woman again. "Kwi."

"Right. That's woman. Kwi means 'woman'." Quin supposed, thoughtfully and then frowned. "Me woman? But that doesn't make any sense. Me woman...?"

He thought on it some more because there wasn't really much else to do. "Me...woman...me...hmm, do you mean my? That would kind of make sense. My woman."

The halfling looked over at the man, whose head sank again. Sadness surrounded him like a grim aura and suddenly, Quin understood what the man was trying to tell him.

"Kwi isn't 'woman'. It's 'wife', isn't it?" he said to the despairing man. "She's your wife. And those despicable drow did that to her..."

Quin shook his head, sadly. "I'm so sorry..."

"Tis ai yam?" the native asked, quietly. "Yam'ai yos ta keet."

"Sorry?"

"Yam." he repeated and pointed a finger at Quin. "Yam."

"Now you're just making me hungry." Quin remarked. "So, yam means 'you', I guess? What about me?"

"Tis ai yam?"

Quin sighed. "Look, we can't communicate. There's no way. I can't understand you and I've no time to play Charades. I've got to think of a way out of here."

Quin scanned the room once again, looking for some way out. There wasn't any other exit other than the wooden door. There were no windows, nothing.

"Vayam'ai kichung du wen, yam bishsta?"

Quin's head snapped around to the man in surprise.

"Did you just say Bishop? How do you know him?"

"Vayam'ai kichung du wen! Tonya'et yam bishsta?"

"This is getting us no where."

"Wendus! Wendus! Bishsta? Wendus!"

"Quiet!" Quin snapped at the man out of frustration. "I'm trying to think here and you're not helping by screaming nonsense at me."

"Ai yam herkung du men?" the man demanded angrily.

Quin shot him a whithering look. "Don't get that tone with me, sir. I'm trying to think of a plan. And what're you doing? You're just hanging there, screaming at me. Do you want to end up like her?"

It was cruel, Quin knew, but he was getting frustrated by the second with this man.

"Hwa?" the native responded, questioningly.

The halfling nodded his head at the dead woman and said very slowly "Do you want to end up like her?"

The sudden expression on the man's face told Quin that somehow, despite the language barrier between them, he understood the halfling's words. His face was a mix of distress, hurt and anger.

"Bindan!" he spat at Quin, and it was now the halfling's turn to understand what was being said, despite not understanding the language. Quin had a feeling he'd just been insulted.

"Well, beendan-or whatever you said-to you, too."

Silence slunk into the room and settled down quietly between Quin and the native. The only sound was the echoing scream that came from behind that wooden door.

It was several moments later when the door finally opened and a menacing looking drow stepped in. Quin craned his head a bit while the door was still open and saw two drow guards standing outside, both of them armed with swords. The drow in the room said something to one of them and then the door slammed shut with a deafening bang.

The drow was male and much shorter than Jaelyn. His skin was near black and silver eyes glared out of the darkness that was his face. He had those sharp elven features that were made grim and sinister by drow heritage and then that trademark of almost any drow: the long, wild white hair. He was garbed in black leather, a blood red cloak with a pattern of black web-like embroidery, and there were two swords belted at his slender hips.

The drow regarded Quin with a thin smile as he paced back and forth in front of him, but violent jingling from the native's cell brought the dark elf's attention around.

"Lez se keet kich, yam bindan drow!" the man shouted furiously in the drow's direction.

The drow faced him and grinned nastily as he unsheathed one sword. "Yam ai net lonus nautus."

The native's eyes grew wide in terror.

"Net..."

"Hey," Quin butted in. "What're you doing there? Leave him alone!"

But it was too late.

The drow thrust his sword into the cell and it entered into the man's chest with a spurt of blood. He let out a small cry of agony and then looked Quin dead in the eyes.

"Gul..aonar." he forced out, blood seeping from his mouth.

The drow's eyes widened and then he let out a vicious growl as he tore open the door to the cell and stepped in.

"Netan sprahn daz onym!" he shouted in fury and then pulled his sword back for the final strike.

Quin barely had enough time to look away before the drow took the man's head off. His stomach clenched when he heard the head hit the floor with a sickening, moist crack and it was all he could do to keep the bile that rose in his throat down.

"You bastard!" Quin heard himself yelling before the words could even be digested in the mind for approval. The anger inside him and the despair at seeing that native die so brutally pushed it out of him. "You godsdamned bastard! Why? _WHY_?"

He fought determinedly against his binds, twisting his small wrists against the tight rope, which only proved to aid it in digging into his skin, but he didn't care. As of that moment, all he wanted, all he cared about, was wrapping his hands around that drow's neck and choking the life out of him.

A harsh blow to the halfling's face brought his senses back around and he slowly looked up with one eye at the smirking drow that was leaning over him. His other eye was closed against the blood that was slipping down from the cut the dark elf had just produced above Quin's brow. There was blood all over the drow as well, blood that was definitely not his own.

"It is what we do," the drow said in perfect Common, but with a bit of a strange accent, "When we no longer have use for someone."

The halfling's eyes were blazing with rage. Had Jaelyn or even the ranger been around, they might have been very surprised by its presence. Quin rarely ever got angry, but the drow's actions brought it out of him.

"You didn't have to cut off his godsdamned head!" the halfling snarled at him.

The drow laughed in amusement and leaned close to Quin. "Perhaps not, but it was fun."

"You sick son of a bitch!"

The remark earned the halfling another strike, this one made right across his cheekbone, drawing more blood.

"You are only hurting yourself." the drow said. "The more you make me hit you, the more pleasure you give me."

He reached out and grabbed Quin by the chin, sinking bony fingers into his face and squeezing it until Quin feared the bastard would crack his jaw.

"Drow love inflicting pain. Excruciating pain. How much can your child-like body take, halfling?"

"More than you think, _drow_!"

"Indeed? Well, we will find out soon enough."

Quin jerked against his bonds again. "What do you want with me?"

The drow gave Quin a devious smile. "You? You are going to be the one who aids us in destroying the natives."

The halfling's blue eyes grew wide. "I certainly will not!"

That devious smile widened unpleasantly. "I find it amusing that you believe you have a choice in this."

"What do you have against the natives, anyway?" Quin inquired, ignoring the drow's remark. "What did they ever do to you?"

The drow shrugged. "Nothing, but they are guarding something we want."

Quin's face was a mask of confusion and puzzlement. "What could they possibly possess that you drow must have?"

The devilishly sly look on the drow's face made Bishop's cunning, leering expressions look pleasant. It was quite disturbing, Quin thought.

"The Heart of the island." the drow said at last and in a tone that made the halfling think he'd asked a stupid question, which only furthered Quin's confusion.

"The island has a heart?" he asked. He might have scratched his chin or the back of his head if his hands weren't tied behind him.

"Indeed." the drow replied with an amused smile. "One that will give us all the power we need."

**xxxxxxxxxx**

"If you do it again, drow, I'm going to poke _you_ with it." Bishop growled at Jaelyn as she knelt beside him and attempted to suture his knife wound, which turned out to be a near impossible task due to the ranger's constant swearing and attempts to slap her hands away everytime she accidentally poked him too deep with the needle.

Jaelyn's hands paused in the midst of their sewing to give him a stern look. "If you'd keep still, the needle wouldn't poke you as much. I swear, Bishop, you act like this needle could actually do some real damage to you."

"I could show you how much damage a needle could do, if you really want me to." he replied threateningly.

"No, what I want is for you to be quiet so I can finish this." she scolded. "Or do you want the wound to get infected? After the way you treated me earlier, you should be glad I even considered doing this at all."

He scoffed. "I'd probably be better off if you hadn't. There'd be less holes in my body."

And just for that, Jaelyn dug the needle into him on purpose and with determination, drawing blood, which thoroughly satisfied her, as did the slight grimace that came upon his face.

"Ow!" he shouted and then narrowed his eyes at her. "You litte bitch! You're going to pay for that."

There was a sound from somewhere behind them, a soft, rapid chittering noise. It was coming from Feral, who was curled up in a ball on the ground, but with his yellow eyes staring at them and a large grin on his furry face. Jaelyn could swear that that noise he'd just made sounded very much like a laugh.

Smiling faintly, she went back to work, ignoring the fuming look on Bishop's face. Let him get angry all he wanted. He deserved it.

Jaelyn was really only doing this to keep her mind preoccupied. Her thoughts kept wandering to Quin, which only intensified her worry and she also found that she kept thinking about that drow hanging upside-down from the tree, the drow she had killed. She'd killed one of her own people. She had taken lives before, all of them out of self-defense, but none of them had ever been one of her kind, not drow or wood-elf. That drow in the tree was the first one and she knew without a doubt that it wouldn't be the last. Despite the evil nature of the drow, she couldn't help but be horrified by what she'd done to one of them and what she was probably going to have to do in the future. More over, she had shot that drow between the eyes without even thinking about it, without even considering for one second the life she would be taking, and for what? To save the life of someone who wouldn't have even bothered to do the same for her if she'd been in his place? It was time she stopped being a fool where the ranger was involved, for it was beginning to affect her in a way she didn't care for. This, what she was doing now, would be the last favor, the last nice thing she ever did for Bishop. She told herself this, but some deeper part of her shook its head, not buying it.

Jaelyn put her focus on the matter at hand.

The knife wound was about three and a half inches long, so it was in need of about fifteen stitches and she was only on the fourth one. More than likely it was going to get infected anyway, but chances were it would've been a worse infection if it had been left untreated. Suturing was a delicate, time-consuming procedure, one that she'd performed on herself more times than she could count. It was probably one of the only healing skills she possessed, other than a few minor healing spells and knowing how to splint a broken arm (which she'd learned to do promptly after falling out of a tree when she was young.).

Jaelyn completed the fifth stitch, tying the string using a square knot, made one more just to be safe and then carefully severed the thread with her dagger. She made another knot while she studied her work. It was looking quite nice, she thought; her best work so far. It looked like it might even minimize scarring; the gods knew he had enough of those as it was. They were all over him, some small, others large, ones from arrows, and knives, and even burns. One caught her attention. It was long, probably about seven or eight inches and it sliced into his stomach right above his navel. It was a life-taker, by all accounts, or at least it should have been. A cut like that might have had someone's insides spilling out.

It was intriguing to her that such a thing marred someone but didn't take their life. Her own curiosity got the better of her and she boldly ran her finger along the full length of that scar, her mouth parting slightly with something between shock and awe. She hardly registered his muscles tense under her touch.

"Gods..." she muttered and finally looked at him with slightly widened eyes, only to be given a scowl. "Where'd you get that from? How'd you even survive it?"

"It's not important." was his immediate and harsh reply. "Get back to your stitching, girl, and stop worrying about things that don't concern you."

Jaelyn frowned and rolled her eyes. "I was just curious."

"Curiosity will get you killed." he countered with a mean look.

She sighed, shook her head and let it go, much to the ranger's surprise, who had been expecting a retort. She was sick of arguing with him; he was always going to be impossible and stubborn, so she might as well just get used to it. At least she could be the bigger person about it.

Jaelyn started on the sixth stitch in silence, leaving Bishop dissatisfied with how the conversation ended, and oddly, giving him the sense that he had somehow just lost, though what it was he'd lost, he had no clue.

Sometime later, she finished the final stitch, and then spread a salve she kept with her, made of very potent healing herbs, over the wound.

"I'd tell you to keep the wound clean and try not to move your left shoulder too much, but I know you're not going to listen to me." she said with an indifferent tone and then shrugged. "I did what I could. The rest is your responsibility."

Bishop was more than a little surprised by her uncharacteristic coldness, and just as he was about to respond with his usual acidic sarcasm, Jaelyn got up and strode away, disappearing into the forest.

She found that stream she'd visited not long ago to fill her canteen and knelt on the bank. She dipped her hands into the cold, gurgling water and rubbed them together, trying to rid them of the ranger's blood. She scrubbed hard, so hard that it hurt.

There was blood on her hands all right, but it was blood that would never wash off, blood that belonged to one of her own and if she couldn't save Quin, it would be the blood of her friend as well that stained her. It was her fault he got captured; she had been the one that could've prevented the drow from capturing him in the first place, and she was also the one that let the drow get away with him.

Jaelyn pulled her hands out of the water and examined them with a frown. She was never going to get that blood out from underneath her nails.

She gently thrust the point of her dagger underneath one nail and tried to clear away as much blood from it as possible. Her hands were trembling.

"Get off, damn it!" she cried frantically at her hands. "Off!"

She cut herself.

"Damn!" Jaelyn swore, her eyes burning with tears that had nothing to do with the cut.

"What's your problem?" came a hard voice she really didn't want to hear right now.

"Go away, you bastard!" she snapped viciously, while holding her finger under the water and squeezing it until it stopped bleeding.

Bishop rose a brow. Well, that certainly was a tone he'd never heard her use before. He opened his mouth and she cut him off, somehow knowing he was about to say something. He was getting just a little bit sick of people interrupting him, especially her, since it seemed like she knew when he was going to speak. Unsettling that, considering she wasn't even looking at him.

"I don't want to listen to you, and I definitely don't want to look at you," she said, hatefully. "So, just..._fuck off_."

Despite his further surprise at her use of one of his favorite vulgar words, he dared to challenge her.

"Oh, yeah? And if I choose not to?"

Jaelyn didn't reply at first. She merely knelt there as still as a statue.

She felt more than heard him step closer. There was never a sound in his step, she noticed, much like her own, but there was a sinister quality to his, as if he were creeping up on his prey.

_Moxie_, she thought. _He's got moxie to be coming toward me when I have a dagger in my hand._

What she didn't know, however, was that he had his own out and ready, just in case she happened to gain her own moxie to try and attack him. One rule any good ranger knows to live by is to always be prepared. For anything.

There was a sudden growl. Jaelyn looked to see Feral standing behind the ranger, lowering himself to the ground in a position that said he meant to pounce at any second.

Bishop didn't need to turn around. He kept his gaze fixed steadily on Jaelyn. "Call it off, or I'll kill it."

Jaelyn frowned and shook her head at Feral. "Go."

The cat-bear hesitated, giving the ranger a hateful look and then glanced at Jaelyn for confirmation again. At her nod, he left.

"Now," the ranger continued. "Suppose I chose to stand here and wear you down? What're you going to do about it? Try to kill me, like you killed that drow?"

Jaelyn's eyes grew wide and she quickly looked away, her hand curling around the hilt of her dagger. Her mouth was going dry with her building anger.

Bishop laughed; it was such a devilish sound. "Hells, you didn't even give him a chance. Put an arrow between his eyes before he could even take his next breath, almost like you wanted to do it. And people call me a killer. Ah, but you're drow, so murder comes natural, right? Didn't matter whether he was drow or not."

His cruelty, as usual, was intentional, but there was something underneath the cruelty, something deeply hidden that she probably would not come to understand until she was level-headed again (this particular form of cruelty was something the ranger liked to refer to as 'necessary cruelty', as opposed to 'imposed cruelty', or, his personal favorite, 'Because-I-Feel-Like-It cruelty'.). But even then, she may still never understand it. He was preying on her emotions, drawing them out to make her fight back. It was that part where he tried making her fight back that she would probably never understand. Hells, he was still having trouble understanding it passed the point of it just being irritating and maddening that she didn't fight back.

In any case, it worked. Maybe too well.

Bishop had always been proud of his near inhuman reflexes, but this time, the drow out-did him, despite the fact that he had the advantage of a better position than her. He was standing and she was kneeling, therefore, it would take her longer to react. Or so he thought.

Jaelyn spun around, rose up, and sliced her dagger at him in almost the same move. She was a complete blur. He was lucky only to have reacted quick enough for her blade to make a shallow cut in his right cheek, which left blood trickling down his face. Had he not reacted when he did, that knife would've done much more damage. He also noted that it could've been his throat she went for and was actually a bit surprised that she didn't.

He ran a thumb across the cut, stared at the blood on it for a moment and then looked back at her with a smirk.

Jaelyn was breathing heavily in her rage, holding her knife so tight that her knuckles paled, while a team of chaotic, angry thoughts came screaming like lunatics into her mind.

"It should've been you." she growled at him, her flaming green eyes boring into his as she stepped to close the gap between them, her dagger leading the way and aimed for his throat this time. "I should've put that godsdamned arrow between _your_ eyes."

His smirk widened in amusement and then in a mocking tone, he said "Now, now, you don't mean that."

Jaelyn thrust her dagger under his nose, narrowing her eyes. "Would you care to see how much I mean it?"

He laughed at her. "Actually, yeah, I would. I'd like to see if you have any courage at all to stand up to something."

"What's going on here?" a worried voice interrupted them.

It was Gulaonar.

Jaelyn stepped away from Bishop, sheathing her dagger as she looked over at the ghost.

"Nothing I can't handle." she said, her tone curt. "Just trying to teach this..._man_ a lesson."

Bishop snorted, derisively. "You're the one in need of a lesson, drow. More than you know."

Jaelyn glared daggers at him as he sauntered off and then turned her attention to the ghost

"Where have you been?"

"I was checking around the area for any drow that might be waiting to ambush us again."

"And?"

"Nothing. All is clear." Gulaonar studied her. "Are you all right? You look a bit...distressed."

"I'm fine." she snapped. "Like I said, it's nothing I can't handle."

"Then why're you so angry?"

The half-drow sighed with much irritation. "What is this, Push Jaelyn Day? Why can't you both just back off?"

Gulaonar opened his mouth to apologize but she stomped off.

Silence became their traveling companion, which was something Jaelyn was most grateful for as well as weary of. She was grateful that neither Bishop nor Gulaonar were torturing her with challenges or questions, but she was weary because the silence brought the thoughts back, the thoughts of Quin in the hands of the drow, who were doing only the gods knew what to him, the fact that she couldn't do anything about it yet, and then there was killing that drow. Saying it was self-defense could not excuse taking his life. Her life had been in no danger when she put an arrow in his skull. It was Bishop's life that had been in danger, but then she also considered that he might have been able to defend himself without her interference, which made her deed even worse. It was bad enough that she had gone that far for the likes of him, anyway. And then he wasn't even grateful about it. He didn't even have the decency to realize how much it was bothering her. He could've at least said 'thank you'...or _something_. Hells, anything would've done. Even acknowledgment of it would've been fine.

The drow's green eyes bore into the back of the ranger's head as Feral walked along beside her and pressed his face against her in a failed attempt to comfort her.

Gods, how she really wanted to kick Bishop over a cliff right now. _Horrible excuse for a human being..._

A smell cut into her inner turmoil and she rose her head, glancing around. Even Bishop had stopped to give the air a curious sniff. The ghost, however, having no sense of smell, merely kept on floating, thinking the other two were still following behind him.

"I smell smoke." the ranger commented.

"As do I." Jaelyn grudgingly added. "Smells like...burning leaves, or straw and wood."

She paused to inhale again and corrected herself. "No, all of them. Twenty miles in the direction we're heading."

Gulaonar had stopped when he'd heard them speak and was now facing them, a look of terminal anxiety on his face.

"The village is twenty miles from here." he said, his ghostly eyes widening. "I'm sorry. I must leave you. If the village is under attack, I must help defend it. Just keep following this path northward and you'll reach the village."

Jaelyn stepped forward to stop him, but it was too late. His translucent form flitted off at a remarkable, blinding speed through the forest. Jaelyn's arms flopped down to her sides as she sighed.

"We could've helped, too, damn it."

"Just leave it to the ghost. It's his concern, not ours."

Jaelyn spun on him, angrily. "How can you say that? People are out there, probably being burned alive by those damn drow!"

He glanced away with a deep frown and set his gaze on the path ahead. To Jaelyn, he looked a little distant, as if he were trying to remember something, or trying not to.

"Then I guess they should've learned to defend themselves." he finally said with icicles hanging off of his voice.

Jaelyn scoffed and shook her head in disbelief. "You, sir, are a horrid human being. No, scratch that. You are a horrid _thing_, not even close to being human. You feel nothing, you care for nothing...you are nothing, nothing but a waste of space and a waste of life. Your mother should've done this world a favor and drowned you when you were born."

She was a little stunned by her own cruel words, which were very unlike her, but in the heat of the moment, she only wanted to give the ranger a taste of his own medicine. By the look on his face, he found it as bitter as everyone else did.

"Too bad your mother didn't succeed at it." Bishop shot back in angry defense.

This was followed by an angry growl from Feral, who stood on all fours, bristling. The growl translated to: _You take that back before I rip your lungs out, you filthy two-leg!_

Jaelyn gave the cat-bear a calming pat on the neck.

She wasn't at all surprised that Bishop would say something like that; no, she was surprised that it hurt, but then she was beginning to understand that he was a person that stabbed back when someone stabbed him. It was his defense mechanism.

Jaelyn merely shook her head and walked away, much to the ranger's ire.

"Come on, Feral."

"That's right." Bishop called after her in a voice full of loathing. "Go on and run off like a coward."

She paused. She did so not because of the anger his remark dredged up, not because she wanted to prove him wrong, but because she realized something.

She turned and looked him dead in the eyes and with a calm that unsettled him.

"I'm not half the coward you are." she said. "I may run to avoid unpleasant situations, but at least I don't hide from everything the way you do. I haven't built a fortress around myself to keep everyone out, the way you have. There are no ice-cold stone walls in my heart, like there are in yours. I'm not afraid to feel and I'm not afraid to care. You're the coward, Bishop, and you're also a godsdamned hypocrite."

He was suddenly (but not surprisingly) very angry. For a moment, he merely stood there as taut as a bow string, his breathing growing heavier by the second as he tried vainly to figure out why her remark was affecting him this way when it should've been something he could just shrug off. Was it the fact that she found the moxie to say something like that to him in the first place, or was it the fact that she had seen completely through him without much effort at all?

He was godsdamned pissed at her for this. No, he was more than pissed and he wanted nothing more than to hurt her for it in any way possible; physically, emotionally, or whatever.

Part of him wanted to tell her the little secret he knew about Gulaonar, knowing that it would cause her great emotional stress, but then it would cost him if he did. The ghost would refuse to lead him to the drow's stash of hidden treasure.

_Bide your time_, came a sinister voice the ranger approved of and welcomed. _Just wait and plan. You'll get her back in the end._

The drow, thinking she'd finally gotten him to shut up for once, turned and began following the path the ghost had been leading them on, completely missing the absolutely horrid, demonic look on Bishop's face.

He followed behind her, shadowing her menacingly while his hand found its way to the hilt of his dagger.

Bishop checked for drow in the trees and then briefly wondered what it would be like to put that dagger in her back.

**xxxxxxxxxx**

A few hours later, they came upon chaos and what was undoubtedly the village.

It was a moderate-sized village, made up of small, squat, thatch-roofed shelters (some of them presently on fire), and a few longhouses with thatched roofs. Their structures looked to be made of wood and animal skins. The crude structures were gathered around what could only be described as a bit of a town center with an incredibly high stack of wood constructed in its midst, an unlit bonfire if there ever was one. There was a large cliff looming over the village, a cliff with a perfect vantage point for any archer, Bishop noted.

Now, the people of the village could definitely be distinguished from the ones attacking it, not just because one group was light skinned and the other dark, but also because the villagers were scantily clad in only animal skins and there were strange markings on their bodies. Also, a good number of them were cowering, running away from their attackers or promptly dying, and the rare ones fighting back were armed with clubs or just their fists. Despite the presence of Gulaonar's shadow form (who was only one ghost and could only plow through a handful of drow at a time), it appeared the villagers were going to lose unless there were others to help them. The drow were swarming the place and they were heavily armed. There was no mercy in what they were doing; it was an attack meant to slaughter an entire race.

Jaelyn could only watch for a moment in mute horror, then with anger in her veins, her bow was out and an arrow was nocked. She sent Feral ahead to aid in the fighting.

The cat-bear darted off toward the battle and latched with claw and fang onto the back of the nearest drow, who let out a startled yelp and tried vainly to reach the threat with his sword, which only ended up with him impaling himself in a very horrible manner.

Before Jaelyn joined the fight, she looked over her shoulder knowing that it was likely she would go in alone.

"Do your humanity a favor, Bishop, and help. Whatever little bit of it you have left."

And then she was gone.

With a deeply embedded frown, he watched her sprint across the village approach and then disappear up into a tree. Seconds later, arrows were flying across the village, striking down drow after drow. There was no mercy in the drow attacking the village, he noted, but there was no mercy in her, either. Her shots were all head-shots.

He brought up his own bow and hurried off on the opposite side of the village, standing between two trees and soon, arrows were flying from his bow as well. He wasn't helping, mind you. He was merely taking his chance to vent his anger on some drow.

A few moments later, he heard a triumphant call from the tree that made a small smirk plaster itself on his face, despite it coming from a source he was currently peeved with.

"Thirteen!" Jaelyn shouted, humor in her voice despite how they had been at each other's throat lately.

It seemed battle brought out their better sides. Perhaps it was all the adrenaline.

"You going to let a girl outdo you, Bishop?" she added just to spur him.

"That's a lot of talk coming from the one who lost our last game." he shot back while loosing an arrow at the same time, one that went into the back of a drow's neck.

"Lost? I didn't lose. I had more shots than you did!"

"We were playing for accuracy, not just the number of kills!"

"Sixteen!" she announced. "Go on and keep talking. I'll have this one in the bag!"

In the midst of the village, some of the natives that were screaming and fleeing stopped when they noticed that the handful of drow that had once been chasing them were now laying on the ground and were quite dead, an arrow sticking out from some vital point on the body, mostly around the head and neck areas. And then they looked around in confusion, hearing voices from somewhere outside the village, voices saying things that could not be understood due to a language barrier but in a tone that sounded very gamesome and competitive.

Soon, the tide of the battle turned and there were more drow bodies littering the ground than there were natives. However, despite the loses, the drow didn't give up and the ones still standing and capable of wielding a weapon kept fighting until their final breath.

Gulaonar dealt with them while the two archers came out from their vantage points.

Jaelyn slid out of her position in the tree and was grinning from ear to ear when she spotted Bishop making his way over to the village center to inspect the bodies (most likely to loot them).

"Let's see," she said from behind him, making a mocking count on her fingers. "Eighteen head-shots and three random body shots compared to your sixteen head-shots and the six random body shots. Are you sure you want to count accuracy into the scoring as well? I got you beat on that."

"Don't get cocky. You just got lucky is all." he replied defensively, nudging a drow body with his boot.

Jaelyn whipped around in front of him, grinning. "There's no need in being a sore loser about it. You can't expect to be good at ev-"

The rest of her sentence ended in a cry of pain as two bolts shot out of seemingly nowhere and went into her back. The force with which the bolts came propelled her into Bishop, who stepped back to let her drop to the ground. As he crouched down, he couldn't help but think that those bolts had been meant for him and she had stupidly gotten in the way. So, why was he angry? He spotted the two drow crossbowmen almost immediately on the cliff over the village. There was no hesitation on the ranger's part. Two arrows came from his bow almost simultaneously and then both drow dropped from the cliff. Head-shots, he noted, both of them. It brought his total to eighteen head-shots and six random body shots. That meant he won.

Jaelyn was hardly aware of anything besides the horrendous pain in her back. It blurred her vision and she was clutching a handful of dirt in an effort to keep from screaming. She could hardly breathe and she inwardly prayed to Silvanus that the bolts hadn't pierced her lungs. Jaelyn saw a blurry brown shape closing in on her and once it stopped, it gave a familiar whine and licked her face with a roughened tongue. She reached out to touch Feral's fur, to feel the comfort of him by her. He nudged her hand, rubbed against it and then let out a menacing growl the moment she felt a rough hand fall on her shoulder.

"Go on." a harsh voice warned from above her. "Try it, and I'll just leave the bolts in her."

There was a part of her that wanted to laugh at the fact that Bishop was actually arguing with Feral, but the pain overrode any humor.

A moment later, she felt his hand pressing near one wound and she couldn't stifle her pained cry, which was muffled by the ground due to the fact that her face was pressed into it.

There was another voice nearby. Gulaonar.

"What happened to her?" He sounded worried.

"She backed into a couple of crossbows," Bishop replied, his voice dripping sarcasm everywhere. "What does it look like?"

"It was a simple question." the ghost said.

"Indeed, one that could be answered if you just _look_ instead of asking."

"Now, see here-"

"Shut up." the ranger snapped. "Why don't you make yourself useful by going to tell these idiots why we're here? 'Cause she's going to need healing. And real soon."

Jaelyn shifted in an attempt to sit up, but a hand shoved her back down.

"Don't move."

"How bad is it?" she asked him.

There was a moment of heart-stopping silence.

"Not bad." Bishop replied at last.

Jaelyn gave a laugh, which caused an enormous amount of pain to shoot through her back and very nearly took her breath away.

"You're a terrible liar." she croaked.

"I'm not lying." he deadpanned. "Why would I?"

Indeed, why would he? As if her feelings mattered enough for him to spare them.

She coughed and there was a slight coppery, tangy taste in her mouth. She coughed again and felt a substance rising in her throat. One final cough had it coming up out of her mouth, and that coppery taste intensified. She stuck a finger in her mouth and it came away covered in blood. Her heart sank under the weight of her panic.

"Oh, Gods...oh _Gods_!"

"Relax." came the ranger's exasperated voice. "You're only going to make it worse for yourself if you panic."

Jaelyn wondered briefly why he was even telling her anything that could be remotely useful before she succumbed to fear, pain, and the tantalizing darkness that offered escape from them both.


	11. Chapter 11: Rejected

**xxxxxx**

* * *

**Chapter Eleven:**

**Rejected**

**xxxxxx**

**No** amount of mental or physical discipline among the Shadow Thieves could've prepared Quince Bramblebrow for the drow's idea of torture. He learned in that stone prison of true pain in its cruelest forms.

It started off slow by first depriving him of sleep and during his forced consciousness, his torturer would come in every fifteen minutes or so and toss the halfling around in utter silence, save for the grunts of effort or the sound of the halfling's pain, and then he would leave in silence. There were three sessions of this, with ten minute breaks in between each. The pain gradually got worse every time that drow (and it was always the same drow) came in to beat him again. At first, it was just minor blows to his face, but then the drow started seeking soft places and backing his strikes with greater force. The drow never asked Quin a single question, leaving him confused by the entire purpose of torturing him in the first place. To be cruel? Fine, but why not just beat the living hells out of him and be done with it? Why was he lengthening it?

They were trying to break him, he surmised, but why? What did they want with him? The drow had said before that he was to aid them in destroying the natives, willingly or no. So, that was it? They intended to break him to their will? Let them try, the bastards. Let them do their worst. He wasn't going to give in, so they might as well just chop his head off as well. There was no way in the hells he was going to let them win. He would choose death rather than kill off innocent people.

They did their worst.

Next came the cutting.

The drow entered the room, dragging a chair in his wake, which made a horrid, teeth-grinding screech across the stone floor.

_They're just trying to get to you, Quin, ol' boy, just play it cool_, came the voice of his mentor from deep in the halfling's memory banks.

The drow slid the chair in front of Quin and then, smiling his evil smile, he sat down in it, fingering the dagger in his hand for what seemed like ages. He then leaned forward and thrust the blade within an inch of Quin's eye. The halfling held his breath and tried not to flinch, but he could almost feel that steel touching, hovering threateningly over the surface of his eye. Then the drow drew the knife downward, the tip pressing just below Quin's eye into the the thin skin there. It went painfully deep and Quin forced back the cry of pain that threatened to come out as the drow slid his dagger halfway down his face, leaving a long smooth cut that left blood in its wake. The pain made his left eye water and he was momentarily blinded by it. When the moisture fell, it slipped into the cut on his face, and it stung like the hells.

The cuts got worse. The drow began making them in thin, sensitive places, moving the blade over the halfling's skin in agonizingly slow arcs.

By this time, Quin was breathing so forcefully he feared his lungs would explode. More than anything, anger coursed through him, giving Pain a run for its money.

"Is that all you got?" he shouted through clenched teeth at his torturer, who's menacing smile widened.

The drow said nothing as he stood from his chair and leaned over Quin, hooking his arm around the halfling's head to hold him still. The blade cut into Quin's cheek, the drow drawing it across to the corner of the halfling's mouth, creating a deep line that oozed blood.

Quin choked down his scream, knowing that it would only be a hundred times worse if he did. But that was the drow's idea.

He let Quin go, stepped back and sent a sharp kick into the halfling's groin, a kick that was so forceful it nearly toppled the halfling over backward in his chair.

Quin screamed, and the cut on his face was forced open wider, which in turn only made him scream louder. The agony brought tears down his face and he was near the point of sobbing. Somehow, he held back, though the gods only knew how he found the strength to do so. He wasn't going to let this bastard wear him down, he wasn't going to let him break him.

The drow laughed. It was by far the evilest sound Quin had ever heard.

To his great relief, the drow finally left.

Unfortunately, he didn't stay gone long enough.

Moments later, he returned with a dripping bucket hanging from a wooden frame. The frame had two planks of wood serving as stands and then another piece of wood running horizontal, connecting the two. The bucket hung from that top piece of wood.

The drow sat the device in a dark corner of the room and then he looked at Quin for a moment before turning back to the bucket and adjusting its height by the rope it hung by. He then grabbed the back of the halfling's chair and dragged him under the bucket. Quin knew what was about to proceed. He'd read about this form of torture in the books owned by his mentor. Water torture. He would be placed under the bucket for hours on end and water would drip on his forehead, but it wouldn't drip continuously; oh, no, that would be too easy. The drops of water would come randomly, unpredictably. He would expect it and it wouldn't come, and it would come when he didn't expect it. It was a good way to drive someone insane, but it was also something he never figured the drow would use. He'd thought they were more into physical torture, not psychological.

The drow forced Quin's head under the dripping bucket, but the halfling fought him by twisting his head around in his grasp, despite the pain it caused in his cheek. Finally, the drow got fed up and smacked him right across the cut. There was a deep groan of pain from Quin that came out through clenched teeth and there was a flash of rage in his blue eyes. The drow tied some kind of harness to the sides of the halfling's head and neck and then secured it to the back of the chair so there was no possible way he could escape the dripping water. He then secured the chair down to hooks in the floor so there was no way Quin could topple himself to avoid the dripping, either.

The first drop slipped onto his forehead. It was cold.

The drow was gone, the door closing behind him.

_Drip._

Quin blinked.

_All right, come on. Don't let this get to you. Just don't concentrate on it. Remember your training. This is nothing. It's nothing, only water, _Quin thought to himself.

_Drip._

_Drip._

_Drip._

He tried to shake away the water that rolled down his forehead and into his eyes, but found that his head was incapable of moving at all. The water was so cold.

_This is nothing. Remember all those times you were kidnapped? Remember all the torture they put you through to harden you? Come on, focus. This is nothing; it's just training. Yeah, that's it. Just training. Why hasn't it dripped yet?_

Quin focused his vision on the bottom of the bucket and knew immediately that he shouldn't have done so. There was a tiny, hairline crack on the bottom of it and he could see a drop of water hanging from it as if it were stubbornly refusing to fall. Now he would never be able to look away from it.

_Drip._

He blinked.

_Thank the gods._

He was kind of hoping that he'd be able to get some sleep even under the water, that maybe he was tired enough to ignore it and fall into the land of Nod, but no such thing was happening. In fact, the dripping water was keeping him awake, which was undoubtedly another one of its purposes as well.

He could close his eyes, but his mind kept on wondering when the next drop was coming. No matter how hard he tried to focus away from it, it just kept coming back to that of its own accord.

_Drip._

There was a bit of slack in the chains that kept the chair tied down, but not much. He tried to move the chair leg against one of the wooden legs of the frame in an attempt to knock the frame down, but he didn't have the strength enough for it, and it was almost near impossible to reach anyway.

The water torture went on for hours. Quin couldn't tell how many, but he was aware of it being a long time. The drow, however, could've told him he'd been under it for four hours, but the Drow weren't merciful like that.

Towards the end, the halfling was almost certain that the water was creating a groove in his forehead where it dripped at, and he was unaware that he was trembling.

His mind was getting hazy. He wanted to sleep, but that damn dripping wouldn't stop.

Shadows grew in the stone room as the candles in the chandelier dimmed, reaching their final moments of life and the tricks they played on the walls created vivid hallucinations for the halfling.

_Drip._

Quin couldn't see the tiny crack in the bucket anymore, which made his insides squirm. At least he could've watched the drops and guess when they might fall, now without seeing them it was truly unpredictable.

He tried counting the drops as they fell, but it only made him more uncomfortable, especially after he reached three thousand, eight hundred and ninety-two and began wondering how much water was in the bucket and how many drops of water it would take to fill it.

Finally, the last candle went out and the room was engulfed in abyssal darkness.

_Drip._

Quin's hands clenched into fists, despite himself nearing delirium. He kept seeing strange spots on his vision and he was aware of his forehead being really cold. He was sleepy, so very sleepy.

_Focus._

_Drip._

He shuddered and his teeth chattered.

_I don't know how much more I can-_

The door opened. Quin heard soft steps across the stone floor.

He vaguely heard a muttered voice he couldn't understand and then light filled the room. Its source, a brilliant globe of white light, hung in the air just below the chandelier.

Quin's torturer leaned over him, filling the halfling's field of blurred vision.

He felt the harness around the sides of his face being removed and then the drow left his sight for a moment. He heard the jingling of chains as they were being removed from the crossbars on the chair.

The drow dragged him across the floor again and Quin was finally able to get a somewhat clear look at him. The anger was returning; just the sight of the bastard made Quin want to go berserk. He twisted his wrists against the ropes again and grimaced when they rubbed deeply against the already raw flesh there.

The drow appeared to be holding some kind of crystalline globe in his hand, about the size of a softball, but Quin had no idea what it was.

His torturer juggled the bauble in one hand for a moment and then leaned close to Quin, smiling wickedly.

Before the drow could open his mouth to speak, Quin, with a sneer on his face, head-butted him with all the strength he could muster.

Quin got a broken nose and a knot on his forehead for his efforts, but he also sent the drow sprawling and that was all the halfling could hope for.

It did nothing to aid his escape, but it did feel good. If it felt this good to inflict pain on him, then how good would it feel to kill him?

Quin was only vaguely aware of how blood-thirsty his thought was, but under the current circumstances, he found he didn't care how blood-thirsty it was.

The drow shook off the blow and touched a hand to the bleeding gash on his forehead and then looked with growing rage at the blood on his hand. He climbed to his feet, whipped out a dagger and advanced on the halfling, a terrible look of hatred on his face. He reached out and grabbed a fistful of Quin's blond hair, jerking his head back by it roughly and exposing his throat to his knife.

The drow held the blade against Quin's adam's apple, pressed it deep, making a thin cut into his flesh.

"I should cut your little throat, Sakphul." he growled.

Quin had no idea what a Sakphul was, but he was almost certain it was some kind of drow insult.

"Go on, then!" the halfling shouted at him. "Do it! I'm sure your superior would love that. All you damn drow are the same!"

Inwardly, he hated and regretted his words. They weren't true. He knew a drow that was nothing like the one standing in front of him; a drow of compassion, a drow with a heart and a drow he considered to be his most trusted friend.

The drow before him smiled thinly and drew back. "In time, Sakphul. When you are no longer useful. Then you shall die a slow death by my hand. I shall enjoy every moment of flaying your skin from your bones, I shall enjoy bathing in your weak races' blood."

Quin sneered at him. "Not if I get to you first."

He was a little startled by his own response. It sounded like something that ranger would say.

Quin wondered briefly what his companions were doing, if they were figuring out some way to rescue him. He could only hope they were, for there was no way he was going to be able to escape alone, not unless he found a way to get out of his bonds.

The drow laughed, drawing Quin out of his thoughts. He threw that crystal ball up into the air casually and then caught it in the palm of his hand, admiring it for a moment. He then thrust it under Quin's nose.

"Do you know what this is, Sakphul?"

"Do I want to know? No, I do not."

The drow smiled. "It is magic. It can show you many things."

"What, the future?" Quin spat in a mocking fashion. "I didn't know the drow were into fortune telling."

"More than the future can be seen here." the drow tapped the glass ball with one slender finger. "The present is possible...even the past. Let us see what it shall conjure."

The drow waved a hand over the glass, keeping it firmly under the halfling's nose so that he could see everything it showed. Inside the little globe, there was a swirl of rainbow colors, each seeming to fight for a position among the chaos. The swirl wavered a bit and began to spread out and take shape. It was a village Quin was looking into, a village with squat shelters and thatched roofs, some of which were on fire. There were people dead, laying around in the center of the village, some of them resembled the man Quin had spoken to briefly (or at least tried to speak to) before his head was removed, and other bodies were drow. Quin noted that every last drow body had an arrow sticking out of it from somewhere.

"Our assault on the village was unsuccessful." the drow said angrily. "It might have worked if not for two meddlesome strangers."

The images in the globe shifted and Quin was suddenly looking upon his companions. Jaelyn was standing in front of Bishop and she seemed happy about something, grinning at him, then...

Quin tried desperately not to show his despair and horror at seeing his friend being shot down by two crossbowmen on a nearby cliff, already knowing what his torturer was going to interrogate him about. The terrible feelings were only slightly eased by seeing the ranger never hesitate to snipe the ones that had attacked her. A strange deed for the man, no doubt, but Quin wasn't fully aware of the situation they were in. He had a feeling Bishop's response was made out of self-preservation and had nothing to do with seeking any kind of revenge for Jaelyn. However, Quin was surprised that he remained near Jaelyn after he killed the drow crossbowmen and even looked like he might be helping her a bit, though admittedly, none of it really looked useful. He seemed to be talking to her and he had a hand on her shoulder. From this view, he almost looked like he was trying to comfort her, but Quin knew such a feat was beyond the emotionless ranger. To the halfling's relief, Jaelyn was moving and talking, so it looked like she would be all right.

"Those two." the drow said. "They are not from this place...and neither are you. You know them. You shall tell me who they are; you shall tell me everything you know about them."

"I'll do no such thing." Quin replied without missing a beat. "So, you can kiss my halfling ass!"

The drow shrugged. "Then we shall do this the hard way. It's just a well; I prefer the hard way."

He drew back from the halfling and gave a sharp call in drow to the door, which promptly opened. Another drow entered, dragging behind him a squirming, little boy with black hair, dressed in the animal skin garb of the natives and with a vine-like tribal tattoo on one of his arms.

Quin's torturer reached out and nabbed the boy by the neck, dragging him to stand in front of him. The drow then nodded to his comrade, who left.

The drow lifted his dagger and placed it against the boy's neck. The child's gray eyes widened and filled with tears. He tried to squirm, but the drow smacked him into submission. The child held a hand to his stinging face and started sobbing.

"Stop this." Quin choked in horror, his eyes darting between the child and the drow. "Dear gods, what kind of monster are you? Leave him alone!"

"It is your choice, Sakphul." the drow replied with a devious smile. "Tell me what I wish to know, or have this child's blood on your hands."

Quin's blue eyes glistened and he bit back on the sorrow threatening to overwhelm his system. His heart was hammering in terror.

His good heart would not allow a child to be killed under any circumstances, but how could he betray his friends? Mostly, how could he betray Jaelyn? She was by far the best friend he'd ever had. How could he betray her and ever be able to look her in the face again without feeling guilty? And that was only if his betrayal didn't get her killed first. What would these drow do with Quin's knowledge about her and the ranger? Would it put their lives in danger? How was he to make this decision? There was no choice in the matter. He was stripped of the freedom to choose. It was all too much...it was all too maddening.

He knew the choice he had to make.

**xxxxxxxxxx**

Bishop scowled at the natives as they went about the task of collecting their dead and disposing of the drow bodies.

It was a task for women, he noted. There wasn't a man among them aiding in moving the bodies. The men mostly kept to the chore of reining the children in and keeping them from getting under foot. There were a lot of children; there were probably more children than adults.

How in the hells did that damn drow ghost expect them to train these people? They barely looked like they could wield a club properly let alone any other weapon, which brought up another problem. What in the hells were they supposed to teach these people with? Where were the weapons? There wasn't one proper bladed weapon among them. He noted a dagger here and a scythe there, though it was only being wielded (and not very well) as a farming tool and looked like it would struggle to shear butter on a hot day. The adolescent boy holding it would have better luck cutting through his wheat field with a fork than he would with that rusted-out scythe.

These people were hopeless. Bishop had been expecting something to work with, people that could be molded into at least crude warriors, but he was lucky if they could be taught which end of the sword did the killing. Then there was always the problem of the language barrier. The natives spoke their own language or they spoke drow. Bishop spoke neither. So, communicating was impossible, unless he had the ghost or the half-drow doing some translating for him.

Why was he even worrying about it? These idiots should've taught themselves how to fight; they wouldn't be in their predicament if they had. They'd all be better off learning it themselves than having someone teaching it to them anyway. It wasn't his responsibility. Let the fools fend for themselves.

All he wanted was to get his hands on that treasure and then find a way off that godsforsaken rock. As much as he disliked cities (mostly because they had those maddening, upright stone things called walls), he really wanted to be at a good tavern right now, one that had a brothel within stumbling range. That was what he intended to blow his fortune on, if he ever got it. He was going to buy himself the most expensive alcohol known to mankind (or any kind) and the most expensive whore in the city. Ah, that was the life, boozing and screwing, and not precisely in that order. He didn't believe in limiting himself, either. Unless it came to the Lich, where limitations were wise if one wanted to see another day.

_Yeah, a sturdy shot of Gibbering Lich would be fine right now. Well, that and a whore giving me a blo-_

The thought was severed as he sensed movement behind him. Bishop whipped around only to stare Gulaonar in the face.

"What do you want?" he snapped, not caring for the ghost's presence.

"I only came to tell you that the natives expect Jaelyn to make a full recovery." he said.

"And?"

The ghost stared at him for a moment and Bishop had the strangest feeling that this damn specter was trying to look inside his head. He shifted uncomfortably, though he damn well tried not to. But that feeling of someone trying to prod into his brain always got him. It was just down-right creepy.

"I only thought you should know." Gulaonar said at last.

The ranger shrugged coldly. "I wouldn't have cared either way."

"Indeed. She only took two bolts that were meant for you. I suppose it would be asking too much for you to at least keep her company while she recovers."

Bishop released an angry socff. "I didn't ask her to step in front of me. It was her own fault. She should've been paying attention instead of gloating. I guess next time she'll think twice about it."

"Did you see the crossbowmen?" Gulaonar inquired.

Bishop didn't want to answer that. "It doesn't mat-

"Then you weren't paying attention, either." the ghost cut him off, already knowing the man would shirk the question. "As much as it may pain you to hear it, she saved your life. You would be dead if she had not stepped in front of you. That is the fact of the matter. "

"I'm done with this talk." Bishop replied defensively and in a tone that suggested he would start stabbing random people if the ghost kept on. "We have other matters to attend to, ghost. You owe me a horde of treasure."

Gulaonar began to smile. It was a smile Bishop knew well, for it was one he'd perfected himself. He just never thought he'd be on the receiving end of it.

"I'm afraid I have been leading you on." Gulaonar said. "There is no treasure, at least none that I know of."

The ranger's golden eyes narrowed. "What? For the sake of her life, you better be joking."

The ghost became angry. The translucent gray eyes grew a menacing red.

"Your threats mean nothing," he spat. "So don't bother wasting the breath to issue them. You attempt to harm her in any way and I will kill you, no matter her feelings for y-."

Gulaonar clamped his mouth shut at the last second before he could finish his damning sentence. It was too late.

The sudden cunning gleam in the ranger's gaze and the growing smirk told Gulaonar that he had erred. He was damned to the existence of a roaming spirit, due to his forsaking Lolth and all other gods and goddess while he had been alive, as well as having a potent necromancy curse made on his bloodline, but he now felt damned more than ever for his blunder.

Bishop's laugh would've made Gulaonar's blood curdle if he had any. It did, however, make his ghostly form ripple as if in a shudder.

"Ah, so she's taken with me, is she?" the ranger said with a wicked, conspiratorial smile. "Interesting."

"I never said that." Gulaonar replied hastily.

"No? I guess the drow have a different meaning for 'having feelings' for someone, then."

Actually, Gulaonar could've told him that the drow word for 'love' was actually a variation for their word for 'doom', but he kept his mouth closed for obvious reasons. The ranger would've probably agreed with it.

"I only meant that she considers you a friend."

Gulaonar hoped the ranger would buy it. The former drow was aware of Jaelyn's 'desires' when it came to the man, having seen them in her mind, but he was unsure of what might develop from those feelings. More often than not, lust was misinterpreted as love. But could love actually grow out of lust? Jaelyn already cared about the ranger in almost the same way she cared for the halfling, what with putting his well-being over her own and helping him through the torture of the drow poison. And then there was that thing earlier where she was tending to his knife wound. She had a good heart, that much was obvious, but harboring such a thing around this man was only asking to be hurt.

The ranger pushed himself from the tree he was leaning on and made his way across the village.

"Where are you going?" Gulaonar called after him suspiciously.

Bishop glanced over his shoulder with a dark smile. "Someone has to keep our little half-drow company."

If Gulaonar wasn't already pale, he would've blanched.

His form flitted across the distance between them and he stood threateningly in the ranger's path, an unpleasant look on his face.

"You stay away from her, or I'll kill you where you stand!"

"Go ahead and try." Bishop replied boldly. "If she considers me a friend, like you say, then she'll hate you for it. And, well, considering what she is to you, I don't think you can afford that."

"Bastard!" Gulaonar growled in rage.

"Don't worry, ghost," the ranger said in a mocking voice. "She'll be in good hands."

**xxxxxxxxxx**

At about the same time Quin was undergoing drow torture, Jaelyn was regaining consciousness.

She came to with a moan, one made out of sheer pain, for the coming of consciousness brought with it all the pain she'd missed after she'd blacked out. It was as if it were trying to make up for lost time or something by rolling over her like a godsdamned avalanche.

Her back hurt like the hells and not just in the places the bolts had struck her, but everywhere. It was throbbing pain, as if it had a pulse all its own. Her entire body felt limp and exhausted. She was also aware of her mouth being extremely dry and she could still taste the blood she'd coughed up.

With extreme effort, she peeled open her eyes. Her vision was blurred for a few moments and she registered a shape nearby. She also became aware that she was in a propped up position instead of laying down, probably due to her injuries being on her back. She briefly wondered where she was, how she'd gotten there, and who had taken to caring for her wounds.

When her vision finally cleared, she was more than a little startled to find the ranger standing at the threshold of what was now appearing to Jaelyn to be one of the native's shelter (she vaguely noted the animal skin walls and the thatched roofing), leaning against the frame with his back to her as he looked out across the darkened village.

Startlement gave way to confusion. What was he doing here? She figured he'd be off celebrating her injuries.

She swallowed in a failed attempt to moisten her parched throat.

"Am I dead?" she croaked.

Her voice drew his attention around. He merely stood there for a moment, looking at her strangely.

"Not yet." he remarked. "But the night is still young."

"I figured I'd have to be dead to find you hanging around like this."

Bishop shrugged. "There's no where else to be. Trust me, if there was, I'd be there."

"Well, I'm more than a little surprised that you're here and not out celebrating or something."

He grinned nastily. "I might have been if there were any ale around."

Jaelyn chose to ignore that.

"So, I guess the natives healed me?"

"Looks like it." he replied, stepping away from the threshold toward her. "Consider yourself lucky, drow. One of those bolts punctured a lung. Whatever healing skills these people possess, it was enough to mend what would've taken your life."

He stood in front of the crudely constructed wooden table beside the bed she was propped in, frowning down at the numerous herbs, bowls, and containers of healing medicines. He lifted a small clay pot, gave it a curious sniff and made a face before tossing it back on the table.

"Have you spoken to any of them?" she inquired.

He gave her a look. "No. How would I? They all speak in drivel."

"I figured Gulaonar would've translated or something."

"They got their hands full with collecting their dead to bother with us right now...and disposing of the dead drow. Lot of bodies lying around out there."

His words called up the memory of the battle, of them both sniping drow from their positions and making a game of it as they had done on the Seawolf. It didn't strike her as disgusting before, but she was realizing it now and in full force. Why it should strike her now, she had no idea, but the sorrow in her welled up and she started to cry.

Her pride tried to hold it back in the ranger's presence, but it was all too much at the moment. Too much was happening, too much was weighing down on her, and she just couldn't hold it back anymore.

Jaelyn tried to hide it, pressing a hand over her eyes and keeping her face turned away from him, but he knew.

It was irritating him beyond belief. Gods, how he wanted to smack the crap out of her. It was nearly impossible to still his hand against the temptation. She needed a good smack; maybe it would bring her to her godsdamned senses.

"I've never killed this many...my own people." she found herself saying to him in her despair.

Bishop cursed in a violent manner and then turned a seething look on her.

"Stop blubbering about it. You did what needed to be done, that's all that matters. If you hadn't killed them, they would've killed you. The fact that I even have to say this to you only proves you're more of an idiot than I thought."

"It's not idiocy. It's called compassion." she countered, defensively.

"Is it? You didn't seem worried about compassion at the time. In fact, you didn't even hesitate to put them down. It was instinct. That should tell you it was right."

"Then why does it feel wrong?"

He shook his head in disgust. "Because you obviously haven't been taught enough in life to know the difference. Yeah, they were drow, like you, but so what? They were trained to kill without thinking, to follow the orders of someone too much of a coward to do the dirty work himself. Those drow aren't you; they aren't going to stop to' talk' about it, they aren't going to bargain; they're going to kill. The sooner you realize that, the better off you'll be. You're drow, so start thinking like one; that's the only way you're going to survive them."

Jaelyn gave him an angered look. "So, kill without remorse? Slaughter the innocent?"

Bishop reflected the look. "Kill without hesitation, kill without mercy, 'cause I'll tell you another thing, they aren't going to show it to you. What they tried to do to this village, it was an attack meant to wipe these fools out. That means they're fighting for something; these natives have something the drow want and they aren't going to stop until they get it."

Jaelyn sighed, staring down at her hands clasped in her lap. She knew he was right, and by the gods, how she hated it when he was right. It was as if something was going terribly wrong with the world.

His words made her realize that she needed to stop looking at these drow as if they were like her, as if they were what she was, because they weren't. Perhaps the majority of the drow were in fact all the same, evil, blood-thirsty monsters the surface dwelling races had made them out to be, but it was also a fact that there were some rare drow who were not like that. Herself, for example, and Gulaonar didn't seem to harbor any of those murderous qualities, either. He seemed genuine in his want to help the natives.

So, in order to stop these evil drow, she needed to think like an evil drow? It made sense.

Her eyes lit up with memory.

"To hunt your prey, you must think like your prey." she recited, remembering one of Weilsung's lessons in hunting.

Bishop looked down on her in slight surprise. A slow smile formed on him, a smile she'd never seen before and she couldn't tell you what it was made of if her life depended on it. It was pleasant and yet very strange, and usually a pleasant smile on him meant something bad was going to happen soon. She couldn't help but look up and wonder if the sky was about to fall down on top of her, or something to that effect.

"Now you're getting it." he said. "Keep thinking like that and you might have a chance."

Jaelyn opened her mouth to thank him for bringing her to her senses, but she was interrupted by two grim-faced native women entering the shelter.

They were both garbed in animal hides that hardly covered their intimate parts, leaving almost nothing to the imagination. They were also tattooed with an elaborate tribal design which wound around their right arms, starting up from the shoulder and stopping at the very tip of the index finger. Both women were dark haired, and as Jaelyn recalled seeing the native's earlier, she remembered that the entire tribe had black hair. It was probably hereditary; after all, being the only people on the island, they had to engage in inbreeding for the race to survive, as unpleasant as it might sound, unless they were somehow able to continue by some divine interference, but that didn't look to be the case.

The ranger was ogling them as any male around half-naked women would do, his mind habitually entering risque mode. He wondered briefly which one would be worth a good roll in the hay, the one with the huge rack and voluptuous frame or the one with the pretty face and the long, shapely legs made especially to be wrapped around a man's waist. It was cruel that a man should be made to choose like this. Why couldn't there be one woman with all those attributes?

_Flip a coin_, said a voice behind his eyes and then he felt a sharp tug on his arm.

He looked down at the drow and she gave him a severely meaningful look that said he wasn't making a good impression.

The two women were glaring at him.

It was just like a woman. They get all pissed without the attention and then get offended when they get it, but then women were the only creature the ranger had trouble understanding sometimes. They made a terribly, exaggerated big deal out of everything. Men only wanted them for one purpose and that was really the only thing they were good for anyway, besides cooking and not many of them were as good as they thought they were. The rest was all unpleasant, syrupy emotions and the constant nagging of 'why won't you marry me?, 'why didn't you come see me when you were in town?', and the one he loathed to hear the most: 'you promised we'd be together if I slept with you; I'm not your whore!'. To which he had always replied: 'I never promised any such thing. You don't want to be treated like a whore? Then keep your godsdamned legs together.'. Of course, that always seemed to end badly, because just to spite him, that's exactly what she (and 'she' was universal for every woman he'd ever been involved with) did; her legs came together so fast she could've cracked a coconut with her thighs.

Bishop managed a smile of innocence that was as believable as a halo on a demon.

One woman (the one with the huge rack), holding an armful of white linen stepped forward and addressed him in a language he didn't understand and in a tone of exasperated anger.

He merely stood there, staring back at her with a risen brow.

Jaelyn smirked.

"She said you aren't supposed to be here, that men aren't allowed. You should probably leave."

The ranger glanced at her. "How do you know what she said?"

Jaelyn shrugged. "She was speaking drow. Apparently, Gulaonar must've told them that I speak it so that we could communicate."

"Right. And suppose I choose not to leave?"

She looked at him in confusion. "Why would you want to stay?"

He crossed his arms. "Like I said before, drow, there's no where else to be. Besides, I'd rather not be out there at the moment. The stink of the burning drow corpses is a little overwhelming."

She knew this was meant to be cruel, but she decided to ignore his comment. It was just Bishop being Bishop. She wished he'd adopt another personality other than his own every once in a while, give the world a break.

"Well, you should probably leave anyway, because I particularly don't want your company."

Bishop grinned nastily. "Well, that's too bad, isn't it? So, go on and tell them. I'm not going any where."

Jaelyn told them all right.

"You'll have to excuse him," she said to the woman, in the drow language. "His mother dropped him on his head when he was a child...more than once, so he's a bit of an imbecile. I would ask that you just let him stay; it'll be better for all of us that way. He'll only get under foot if you let him run around without someone to watch him."

"Ah, I understand perfectly." the woman replied in the same language and then looked over at Bishop, offering him a pitying smile.

He snapped his gaze around on Jaelyn in suspicion. "What did you tell her, drow?"

Jaelyn gave him an innocent look, and unlike him, she pulled it off. "What you wanted me to, Bishop."

He narrowed his eyes. "They're rather calm about it."

She shrugged. "I suppose they can be lenient, considering we saved their lives."

"Well..." he looked thoughtful for a moment, looking between all three women in the room and feeling like there was something he didn't know, something at his expense. "Whatever."

He plopped down into a wooden chair placed on the other side of the crude table and immediately regretted it. It was as hard as a rock. He leaned forward with a slight grimace and rubbed his backside.

Meanwhile, one woman stood at the table, mixing together herbs and the other helped Jaelyn to sit up and began unlacing the front of her white chemise.

"We are going to treat your wounds." she said to Jaelyn in drow. "Tega is mixing together a salve made of healing herbs. And she will also brew a special herbal potion. The...those things that were in you, what do you call them?"

"Bolts?"

"They caused damage on the inside as well as on the outside, but Tega has been making you drink the potion while you were not conscious. It was dangerous, yes, but necessary. Without doing so, you would not be alive."

Jaelyn nodded her understanding. "Thank you."

The two women shared a small smile.

In the corner, the ranger's keen eyes were glued to the woman's hands as they moved down the front of the drow's chest, fingers working the string that kept her chemise laced up, and he saw her fingers accidentally (though this didn't matter whatsoever to him) graze the drow's breast.

Bishop bit his lip.

He knew he should've left when he had the chance.

Just that little unintentional caress got him hot. Gods, he was definitely going to be in trouble if this kept up.

Trying to not look was impossible and closing his eyes made matters worse, for he had the imagination to work up some really dirty images, things he wished to the gods that they would start doing to each other.

He was going to be looking at some serious 'alone time' behind the village later.

The native woman finished with the lacings and Jaelyn held her chemise closed until she was laying on the bed on her stomach. Her head was turned in the ranger's direction and she made a face.

"What're you doing? Quit looking!"

He smirked. "I'll do what ever I damn well please. Care to stop me?"

Jaelyn scoffed. "You're impossible."

She turned her face away and laid her chin on her arms as the native woman began sliding the chemise down off her shoulders and bundling it at her waist.

Jaelyn tried to ignore the sudden breeze against her bare back and the faint pain it caused when it wisped over her injuries.

The native woman leaned over her and Jaelyn hissed when her fingers probed gently around the raw skin of her wounds. She also felt her skin pull and she assumed that was from the stitches. Wounds deep enough to cause internal damage were required to have stitches.

"Yes," the woman commented in drow. "They are healing nicely. There is only a small infection, as is normal for any injury this deep."

Jaelyn noted a strange smell in the room, the scents of several herbs and plants and then the native woman named Tega stepped away from the table and handed a small pot over to her fellow tribeswoman.

"This, I'm afraid, is going to sting a bit." she warned Jaelyn.

Jaelyn prepared herself for the aching bite to come, but she got something else, something worse.

The moment the native woman's fingers rubbed the salve gingerly to her wounds, sharp, searing pain tore its way into her back and robbed her breath of everything it had. Jaelyn bit down onto her arm until she tasted blood, all to keep from screaming; however, she did manage a whimper. Her muscles rigidfying against the pain only made it that much more worse. Tears burned her eyes and she blinked them away, trying to focus away from the pain. She stared at the animal skin walls of the shelter, wondering what kind of animals they may have come from and then the next wave of pain shot through her as the native woman worked on the second wound. It was worse. Jaelyn fought back a sob, which had firmly settled in her throat and had all intentions of charging out of her. Instead of a sob, she let out an angry sound, a vicious growl.

The ranger smiled. His wandering, predator's eyes scoured over the drow, taking in the long, tangled white hair, which was spread about on the bed and spilling slightly over one shoulder and across her back, the smooth-looking, dark skin, the slender contours, the small curve of her breast, and her dainty, tapering hips. The chemise covered her more intimate areas and then quit just at the back of her knees. Her dark legs were complimented by firm calves and she had small feet. She wasn't much, but she would do. Besides, he knew she was unused; untainted; yet to be conquered.

_Yeah_, he thought wickedly, feeling the instinctual, animal desires in him arise. _She's virgin, no doubt. It would be worth getting her into bed. I'd crush her._

And gods, how he wanted to crush her, how he wanted to be the one to completely ruin her, and for more reasons than just his animalistic and instinctual need to conquer an unconquered woman. It would also stick it to that godsdamned ghost. Gulaonar would be furious, but there would be nothing he could do about it. Jaelyn would be too emotionally attached to believe anything Gulaonar said or to let the ghost harm him. Then Bishop would toss her aside like garbage and be done with it. She would serve her purpose, and get what she deserved as well. Call him a coward and a hypocrite, will she? _We'll just see about that._

It was several moments later when the two native women finished up tending to the drow's wounds and then made their way out of the shelter, sparing the ranger dry looks before they left.

When he was sure they were gone, Bishop stood from his chair and made his way over as Jaelyn sat up, keeping her chemise covering her chest, though it was still hanging loose off her shoulders. She felt him sit on the bed behind her and her head jerked around, her eyes glaring suspiciously at him. She winced as she attempted to pull her chemise up, but he reached out and stopped her, his hand grabbing the thin, cotton fabric.

"Let go!" she cried in a panic, clutching her garb to her.

Her poor little heart was racing in fear, anticipation and anger.

"Relax." he replied roughly and then jerked the fabric down a little.

He put a hand on her shoulder, noted with amusement the rigidity his touch put in her muscles and then made her lean forward so he could get a better look at her injuries.

Jaelyn tried to relax, but found it nearly impossible. She kept expecting him to do something heinous. It was a proper expectation.

Bishop looked over the wounds, which were about one and a half inches long. One was just below her left shoulder and another one a few inches above her lower back. The sutures were impressively done and the raw skin was already in the early stages of healing. These people weren't as useless as they looked and acted, at least not when it came to healing.

He grunted slightly. "I wouldn't have expected healing like this from barbarians."

Jaelyn glanced back at him. "They aren't barbarians. They're hospitable, kind, and intelligent people."

He snorted. "You presume a lot of people you've only just met."

She shook her head. "They helped me when they didn't have to."

"They owed you. If it wasn't for either of us, they'd all be dead."

She sighed. "Not every deed has to end in a debt, Bishop."

"Deeds always come with debt."

"And how do you expect them to pay you back?"

A highly suggestive and enormously devilish look came over him. "Oh, they aren't going to be the ones paying me back, drow. _You_ are."

"Me?" she demanded in outrage. "But I-"

He cut her off. "You blacked out after getting hit by those bolts. I'm the one that took them out and I'm the one that made sure you didn't bleed to death. I saved your life, that means you owe me."

Jaelyn turned to face him fully, still clutching her chemise close and stared at him for a long moment, trying to see if there was a lie there, but she knew she couldn't read that face or those eyes. And as she remembered what the native woman had said not long ago about the bolts causing damage to her insides, she had never mentioned anything about removing them. She didn't know who to believe, but something made her think the ranger was telling the truth.

Jaelyn looked down and shook her head. "I didn't know."

"Now you do."

"But I don't have anything you want."

"Don't you?" His voice was low, thick and gravelly.

When she looked up, he leaned in, one of his rough hands moving across her bare shoulder and then slipping behind her neck.

Jaelyn shrank away, her breath clogging in her throat in terror. She was actually surprised that he didn't keep her from escaping.

"Wh-what're you doing?" she gasped.

Still close to her, he smiled while curling a strand of her white hair around a finger, pulling it gently. Then he laughed.

"Ah, where are my manners?" It was said in a mocking fashion.

Jaelyn found she couldn't look away from him, somehow hypnotized as that hand in her hair took hold of her hand and brought it to his lips.

They were warm, slightly moist and surprisingly soft.

He turned her hand over and pressed his lips to her palm, his mouth partially open to allow his breath to caress her skin and his teeth to graze her ever so slightly, knowing the effect it would have on her. Golden eyes flicked upward to find her watching him with her own pretty green eyes widened in shock, yet retaining a fire within their depths; the flame of desire had been lit, now all he had to do was feed it. He noted her breathing becoming a bit labored and how her free hand held her chemise in a death grip. She was getting flustered.

His mouth worked its way across her palm to her wrist, teeth scraping over the veins there with a tiny bit of tongue added for good measure. He offered a playful bite that elicited a small gasp from her. Jaelyn shuddered, feeling something warm run down her spine and drop into the core of her being, setting it ablaze. How could there be so much sensuality in so small a gesture?

Bishop finally pulled away from her hand and smiled into her surprised and dazed face. She couldn't even move. He had her right where he wanted her.

This time when he moved in, she couldn't elude him.

The kiss was sloppy the first few seconds, due to her never having been kissed before (at least not that she could remember, thanks to the Gibbering Lich), but she soon got the hang of it and followed his lead, which turned the clumsy kiss into a fervent one that left her reeling.

The ranger was surprised at how quick she learned and was even further surprised by how good it got. She tasted good, too. She was sweet with an undertone of bitterness. But he wanted more of her now that he'd gotten that taste. A whole lot more.

Her hand came to the back of his neck and he felt her nails gliding gently down his skin. It felt extremely good and it spurred him on.

He realized his mistake too late.

Bishop roughly attempted to deepen the kiss and the moment Jaelyn felt him use his mouth and tongue to force her own mouth wider, she quickly broke the contact.

It had brought her back to her senses.

Without looking at him, she withdrew from her bed and pulled her chemise over her shoulders, lacing it up swiftly.

"I want you to go now." she spoke, her voice sounding strained.

"Why?" he demanded.

"Because I do!" Jaelyn shouted in a sudden passion without looking, her arms crossed over her chest. "Just get out!"

He stood, scowling at her back.

"Fine." he spat. "You're not worth staying for, anyway."

"Just go!" she cried, pointing at the threshold.

It wasn't until he was outside of her hut, alone in the darkness, that he realized how hard and quick his heart was beating, and as he went on his way, he found himself feeling frustrated, confused, and angry with how things had unfolded. Bishop had not been expecting her to reject him, not after what Gulaonar had accidentally confessed to him earlier.

Now with the lingering taste of her on his mouth, knowing he wanted more and had been rejected by her, he found himself feeling unsatisfied and bitter, as if he were the one that had gotten played.


	12. Chapter 12: Council

**xxxxxx**

* * *

**Chapter Twelve:**

**Council**

**xxxxxx**

**Jaelyn** was standing in the midst of the shelter she'd been recovering in the past two days, adjusting the ties, clasps, and buttons on her leather armor.

Her back was still sore, but Tega, the healer of the natives, said that the infection was nearly gone now and that the wounds were just about healed. Not long now and she would have the stitches taken out.

Jaelyn and Bishop had seemed to of made quite a name for themselves among the people with their deeds during the drow raid. Gulaonar had visited Jaelyn on occasion during her recovery time and he'd said that most of the natives were hailing them as heroes, saviors sent by the island to protect them, but there were still some who were wary of Jaelyn's presence among them. Mostly, it was the women who approved of her; the men were the wary ones, most likely because they'd never seen a female drow before, and taking into effect how the males acted, they probably figured the females were the same...or even worse(which was actually the truth in the case of the drow of the Underdark). The ranger had it easy; he was more or less one of them-human-so he was getting most of the attention, Gulaonar said. It was kind of amusing considering that if Jaelyn hadn't goaded him into helping, he would've left them to die. It was probably better if the natives didn't know that, however. Let them think the bastard was a hero; they would learn the truth in time. Of course, she had to hope that once they saw his true colors, they wouldn't think her the same as him.

Jaelyn sat down on the end of the bed, where Feral was curled up in a ball, sleeping. The cat-bear hadn't been present for the past couple of days, though Jaelyn saw him on occasion, sneaking into her shelter in the dead of night to curl up at the end of her bed, but by dawn he was gone again; he seemed wary of the village and its people, but he knew better than to hurt any of them.

This was actually the first time Feral had stayed past dawn. It seemed he was getting a little more comfortable now. The natives, however, had yet to be aware of Feral's presence; Jaelyn had no clue how they would tolerate him.

She offered the cat-bear a caress, running her fingers through his silky, thick fur. He vibrated deeply in his sleep. Jaelyn then began pulling her boots on and lacing them up with infinite slowness. She really wasn't looking forward to what lay ahead for the day.

Once Jaelyn was capable of getting around without too much pain, the leader of the natives and the tribal council had called some kind of meeting, most likely to discuss the attack, the presence of her and her companions, and what needed to be done about the drow to prevent an attack like that from happening again. She wasn't looking forward to what they might say about her.

Ever since that unexpected kiss two days ago, Jaelyn had been on edge and a little quiet. Gulaonar had noticed, of course, but she refused to talk about it with him. In fact, she refused to believe it had happened at all, though she knew damn well how impossible it was to forget a thing like that. Her very first kiss, and it had to be with..._him_. As much as she hated to admit it though, it was kind of nice, and she remembered well the way her heart had throbbed, the way her mind completely shut down, and her body gave in. It was something she had never felt before, that feeling of surrender; it was something she could probably never describe to another person. It might have been the perfect kiss at first, she realized, it might have even made her feel something more for him, but he'd ruined that by getting forceful. He was lucky Feral hadn't been around at the time, or it was likely the cat-bear would've ripped the ranger's face off.

She couldn't know, due to her inexperience with these matters, that his reaction to her was only natural, that it had been made out of sheer instinctual desire, and that despite those desires, he hadn't forced himself on her when she'd gotten startled by his forwardness; he could've simply taken what he wanted (after all, she would've been weak from her injuries) whether she was willing or not, but he hadn't. If she had known, his actions would've bared thinking about, but only for a few seconds. When it came to Bishop, one could only guess a motive behind his actions, and nine out of ten chances, one would be wrong about it. There was no predicting him; one could never tell what he was thinking or what he might do next.

Jaelyn felt like running away. She might have if there was any where to run to. It made her a little bit angry that she would even consider it; it was only proving that he had been right about her being a coward.

She'd been 'running' from him for two days straight, but he was 'running' from her as well. She hadn't even seen him, let alone talked to him since that night, and it had taken her a while to figure out why her life was suddenly so quiet and peaceful, but admittedly dull. He may have been annoying, infuriating, frustrating, and and a long list of other things, but life was a bit more interesting with him around once you got passed all that other stuff.

She missed Quin; she wished he was there, for now, more than ever, she needed her friend. She hoped he was okay. If the drow hadn't outright killed him yet, they could still save him. The halfling was tough and he no doubt could survive what ever the drow threw at him. Just as long as he was still alive.

Jaelyn tied her boot strings into a tight knot and then stood from the bed, wincing slightly when the move made her back bend and pulled at her stitches.

She moved toward the threshold just as Gulaonar was coming through. He passed right through her. Jaelyn paused in her stride and blinked, a bit alarmed by what had just happened. She turned and they both shared a laugh, hers being a little forced.

"I was coming to tell you that the meeting is about to start." he said, retaining his amused smile.

She nodded. "Let's go."

The moment she turned away, the ghost halted her.

"Jaelyn."

The half-drow looked at him over her shoulder.

"Are you sure nothing is wrong? I may not be alive, but I do know when something is up. You and the ranger have been avoiding each other for two days. Did he...do something to you that upset you in any way?"

Jaelyn shook her head. "No, everything's fine. I just don't enjoy being in his company, is all."

Gulaonar frowned and shook his head. "I can tell when you're lying."

"I'm not lying."

But even as she was saying that, the ghost could see what she was thinking of, the memory their conversation was calling up. It swirled to life above her in misty gray images, and Gulaonar watched in horror that gradually blossomed into anger. That son of a bitch. That bastard ranger touching her, kissing her...

"I warned him!" the ghost erupted, his gray eyes starting to blaze red. "I'm going to kill him!"

Jaelyn stared at Gulaonar in shock. "What? What's wrong? What're you talking about?"

He forced himself to calm down and then shook his head. "Nothing. It's nothing."

She laughed lightly. "Nothing has got you that worked up? I'd hate to see the way you'd act if something was wrong."

The specter drew close to her. "Listen to me, I want you to stay away from Bishop."

She frowned. "I've been doing a good job of that lately. But I'd still like to know why you're telling me this."

"Just...I just want you to." he said, desperation in his voice. "I could tell you why, but I know you'd never believe me. Please, Jaelyn, just stay away from him."

She nodded, more to calm Gulaonar down than anything else. "All right, I'll try, but it won't be easy when we have to start training these people."

"Yes, but I'll be around then, so I can watch him as well."

"Is there something you're not telling me, Gulaonar?"

"Yes," he admitted without hesitation. "But I won't tell you what it is, for fear that if I do, you will become angered and not believe me."

"Even if it did anger me, I wouldn't let that anger cloud my judgment."

Gulaonar smiled at her. "Yes, you would, my child. I mean this in the most affectionate way possible, but you are one who is dominated by your emotions. You feel first and think later. You remind me of myself."

He paused, shook his head and then continued on.

"Before we go to this meeting, Jaelyn, I would like you to tell me about your family."

She gave him an odd look, wondering why he would even want to know and why at this particular moment, but she shrugged it off and answered him anyway.

"I was raised by song dragons."

The smile on her face brought one to Gulaonar's. He could tell just in that smile how proud she was of her family and how much she loved them. It was good. It set him at ease and he listened closely to what she told him.

"The Vakavsavala clan." she went on. "They live in a small range of the Spine of the World. I'm afraid I can't divulge the precise location; I swore an oath not to. Weilsung is the leader of the clan and my father. I couldn't have asked for a better one."

Gulaonar merely nodded, but Jaelyn noticed the profound look of sorrow on his face for a moment. His form shifted and twisted as if in pain and there was a strange, hollow, wailing sound coming from him, though his mouth never moved. It was a sound often accompanying ghosts, yet it sounded much worse on Gulaonar, who wasn't exactly like most paranormal beings.

"Are you all right?" she asked, concerned.

"Strange." he said, distractedly. "Ghosts should not feel emotion, for they have not the proper functions for them, yet I feel despair now. Perhaps I am recalling emotions from my past life?"

He shook his head and looked at her. "You are lucky to have had a family, Jaelyn, even if it wasn't the one you were born from. I never knew my parents very well. They were killed when I was young."

"That's awful." Jaelyn replied sincerely. "I never knew my true parents, and to be perfectly honest, I don't care to, either. They cared nothing for me."

"I'm sure that's not true." Gulaonar said. "Sometimes things happen..."

He seemed to be struggling, but then he bravely pushed on. "Sometimes things happen where parents are forced to make difficult decisions for the safety of their child. Perhaps they were forced to give you up."

She scoffed and shook her head "No. I was hated. My mother tried to drown me in a river and my father...well, there's nothing about him. I suppose he was never in the picture. Probably a dead-beat or something."

Gulaonar looked taken aback and he quickly shook his head. "No...that's not...I mean, if your mother truly loathed you, would she have carried you? Would she have allowed herself to give birth to you? There are ways to prevent such unwanted births from happening. If she didn't want you, child, she wouldn't have had you."

"What do you know?" she snapped, defensively.

He sighed. "More than you know. I would like to tell you my story when we have the time, if you would be interested in hearing it."

Jaelyn nodded. "I'm interested. After all, if this Dresmor is the one behind all of this as you say then we should know as much about him as possible."

Gulaonar merely nodded in return and then they were both heading out across the village. The ghost pointed to a longhouse that had sustained some fire damage during the raid, but had some how survived. Jaelyn had no idea how they had put the fires out, unless there was a mage among them or something.

"That is where the meeting is being held." he said.

There was a crowd around the the threshold and they could both hear a voice raised in an effort to be heard over the general hubbub, a strong, masculine voice speaking the language of the natives.

"And it seems we are late."

Jaelyn frowned. "That's not good. I already don't make good first impressions. Being late to an important meeting is going to make me look even worse."

Gulaonar laughed briefly. "Fear not. As I've told you before, the natives are hailing you and the ranger as heroes. They understand that if you had not intervened, then most, if not all, of their tribe would be dead."

"No, you said _most_ of them are hailing us as heroes, not all. And we both know it isn't Bishop that they disapprove of. He's one of them. And I'm drow. I'm the enemy."

"Half-drow." Gulaonar amended, and then he sighed heavily. "In time, they will come to see that you are not like the others. Your deeds will speak for you."

"If my deed during the raid wasn't enough, then no other deed will be, either." Jaelyn replied, sadly. "It's fine. I'm used to it."

She walked on toward the longhouse, which was surrounded by a curious group of natives, Gulaonar following close behind.

Just as they reached the crowd, they saw it part briefly to allow the ranger through and then went back to staring inside the longhouse, though Jaelyn noticed a few of the women still looking in his direction, whispering and giggling like infatuated teenagers. Jaelyn smirked and shook her head.

There was an irate look on Bishop's face as he approached.

"Where in the nine hells have you both been?" he demanded. "I've been waiting in there for an _hour_, being interrogated by that barbarian. I still don't know what in the hells he was asking."

"Barbarian?" Gulaonar replied with a frown.

"The leader or chief or whatever he is."

"That man is no barbarian." the ghost said in a tone that suggested the ranger better watch his mouth. "He is very highly respected among his people."

"I don't give a damn." the ranger shot back. "He's just glad I left when I did, 'cause I was this close to cutting a smile in his throat."

Gulaonar's frown deepened. "I'm certainly glad these people don't understand Common. If they could understand your words..."

He shook his head in exasperation.

"Like I care. Teach me their language or teach me drow and I'll tell it like it is to their faces."

Gulaonar scoffed indignantly. "Indeed, you probably would. In any case, we should head in. We are late already."

Bishop looked between Gulaonar and Jaelyn, who immediately averted her gaze elsewhere and cleared her throat nervously.

His mouth curled into a devilish smirk.

Gulaonar saw it and became angry that the bastard was enjoying her distress. He should've just killed him when he had the chance, no matter what it would've done to Jaelyn. The pain and distress it would cause her would be far less worse than what the ranger was planning to do to her.

Without further ado, Jaelyn stepped past him and headed for the longhouse.

The crowd parted to let her through as they had done for the ranger, but her presence caused a hushed silence to fall upon them. Eyes watched her every move as she entered the large shelter, trying to keep confident and not show her self-consciousness.

The structure was elongated and at the end of the shelter there was a long, sturdy wooden table where thirteen grim-faced men sat, awaiting their arrival. At each side of the room were wooden benches filled with natives, their faces turned toward her, their eyes boring into her. It looked more like a temple congregation ready for a sermon than a meeting about possible war. It was so quiet, Jaelyn could hear her steps along the creaking wood floor.

She swallowed and tried to ignore the perspiration forming on her forehead and along the back of her neck. It was hot inside the longhouse and it was thick with the smell of the natives, of dirt and sweat and the scent of the hot leather from the animal hides walls and the natives' choice of garb. She could also smell herself beneath it all and made a mental note to find a suitable bath after all of this. Just because she was a ranger didn't mean she had to smell like one.

Jaelyn glanced back over her shoulder, for she suddenly felt like she was the only one in the room, but Gulaonar and Bishop were following behind her. It was probably the only time she would feel any sort of relief or otherwise pleasant emotion at knowing Bishop was behind her. She'd rather he be in front, where she could see him.

When she came before the council, she halted there and took a breath, noting the unpleasant looks of the men in front of her. Gulaonar continued on to stand before her, and Bishop stood at her right. Out of the corner of her eye (for she hadn't the courage to actually look at him yet without feeling her face heat up), she saw that his stance was a bit rigid and on the offense, as if he were prepared for and expecting an attack before the meeting was over. His hand rested on the grip of his sword.

_Always on guard,_ she thought. _But maybe that isn't a bad thing. Look at their faces. I don't care what Gulaonar said; they look like they want to kill me._

She fidgeted uncomfortably, pulled at a loose piece of thread on her leather armor. Glancing around again, she looked into disapproving, angry faces. She noted a man's blue eyes burning with hatred, a woman looking very near to pouncing on her, another woman fiddling ominously with something blunt in her lap, something with a handle.

Jaelyn couldn't breathe. The room was heavy with tension and anger and it was suffocating her. She could smell the anger, like she could smell it from the trees in the forest. Her foot moved back and her body half-turned as she prepared to flee...

A hand grabbed her wrist.

She made a small sound of surprise and for the first time in two days, she looked at the ranger.

He was giving her a hard, stern look, one with meaning.

Though no mouth opened, words were passed between them. He did the 'talking' and only two words accompanied that look. It was probably the first time and would probably be the only time she read something from him without words having to be exchanged.

_Stop running._

As if it were so easy, she wanted to say back. But she didn't need to say it, for he saw it. His look hardened even further and she felt his hand tighten on her wrist.

_Stop making excuses for it._

And that was it. He let her go and returned his attention back to the council.

Jaelyn watched him a moment longer, wondering why he'd done it. But then she denied it. What right had he to 'say' anything to her? He was still more of a coward than she would ever be. Still, perhaps there was a point to all of it, perhaps despite his hypocrisy, he was still right. She needed to stop running. She was never going to be accepted and she was going to have to accept that as something she could not change.

Jaelyn looked back at the council just as a tall, sturdy man with long black hair and elaborate tribal tattoos stood from his seat. He'd been sitting in the middle, his chair slightly taller than all the others. Apparently, he was the leader of the natives.

He spoke a few words in a loud voice and in his native tongue, words that came out sounding grim and slightly angered and words that were directed at Jaelyn and Bishop. Gulaonar turned to translate.

"He wants to know why you intervened during the drow raid."

Jaelyn made a proceeding gesture. "You know why. Go on and tell them. And also tell him to speak in drow so that I may communicate with him."

Gulaonar shook his head. "He will not. He believes speaking drow is like putting a curse on himself. He loathes the language."

She sighed. "Very well."

The ghost turned back and spoke in the native's language, answering the leader's question.

The leader gave Jaelyn a shrewd look, sniffed with something that could only be described as indignation and then spoke.

"He said you're drow. Why would you bother to help his people?"

Jaelyn became angry. She took a violent step forward that was misinterpreted by the leader, who immediately began speaking in his language hastily as he tried to keep the fear out of his eyes.

"Jaelyn" Gulaonar said to her. "Calm yourself. You've startled him."

"I don't care!" she shouted. "I'm sick and tired of my race being a factor in everything I do and say. I'm tired of it being a factor in how people see me. I'm a good person, damn it! I'm not like them. I can feel and love. I try not to hate. I've never killed for pleasure. I intervened during the raid because you needed help! Because I didn't want to see people die. I did it because it had to be done, because it was the right thing to do."

Gulaonar translated to the leader as she spoke, and at the end, Jaelyn realized she was trembling and her eyes burned with tears, but they were tears of anger, because she had been angered by this for a long time and it was about time people knew it, damn it.

The leader studied her long and hard. Then he spoke, his dark blue eyes on her green ones. She didn't look away as she might have done a few days ago. She held his gaze firmly.

"I see." Gulaonar translated. "I spoke out of turn. But you must realize that my reaction was to be expected. Your race isn't known for its kindness, or its..." Gulaonar winced and finished. "Humanity."

Jaelyn's green eyes flamed with anger. "Indeed. What you must realize, _native_, is that I am not like my race and I will never be like them. The sooner you realize it, the better we'll all get on. We're not here to cause trouble, we're here to help and you'd do well to accept it because those drow aren't going to bargain with you, they aren't going to talk; they're going to kill. If you don't know that by now, then there is no hope for your people and you're all going to die. When they come again, and they will, you're going to need all the help you can get. The last thing you need is more enemies."

She couldn't believe the words coming out of her mouth, but they were said and they had been said from the heart. Yes, she knew some of them were Bishop's own words, but they were true. She was surprised with herself and wondered where all this sudden courage was coming from. Even still, it felt damn good to stand up for herself; it was thrilling to say what was on her mind, to tell someone what was what and the adrenaline in her veins made her want to do something, anything; maybe run around the room or dance, just something that involved movement so she could burn off that rush before it drove her mad.

Jaelyn settled for looking around the longhouse, noting how swiftly she had changed those hateful looks, those disapproving scowls into expressions of fear and realization. They understood now.

She tried to fight off a smile, but it was impossible. She looked to her right and caught Bishop's glance. He'd been smiling, too but the moment she turned to him, it flew away and was replaced by a mocking smirk. It was too late to try and hide it behind that look, she'd seen it.

Gulaonar had regretfully translated her words, fearing that they would provoke the leader's anger, but the ghost was surprised when he stood there for a moment and then lowered his head as if in shame.

The entire longhouse fell silent again.

The council members stared at him expectantly, waiting for some kind of reply or reaction from their leader. Even the congregation of natives were sitting on the edge of their seats.

When their leader finally rose his head, there was a grave expression on his face.

"You are right, of course," Gulaonar translated with some relief. "My people are in danger and we do not possess the skill to defeat the threat. I saw it with my own eyes three days ago when a good number of my people died bravely defending our home. I would welcome your help, both of you. However, as is tradition, the council must vote on it. In private. For now, the meeting is adjourned."

The leader sat down in his seat and the congregation arose from theirs to exit the longhouse. When the last of them trailed outside, Jaelyn, Bishop and Gulaonar left as well.

"_'Died bravely'_?" the ranger demanded in outrage once they were outside. "'Died bravely' my godsdamned ass! They cowered, ran and the drow corralled them like sheep ready to be slaughtered." He scoffed, derisively. "'Died bravely.'"

Gulaonar turned to face him. "Some of them fought, knowing that they would die in the process. That is dying bravely."

"But the majority of them ran." Bishop countered and then made a disgusted face. "Damn cowards."

Jaelyn elbowed him to shut up. He scowled down at her.

"What? You know it as well as I do. At least I admit it."

"Gulaonar has a point. Some of them did fight."

"That isn't the point." he replied. "Most of them didn't. How in the Nine Hells are you expecting us to train these cowards?"

Gulaonar opened his ghostly mouth, but Jaelyn beat him to it.

"Look, something happened to me in there." she said, facing the ranger fully. "And though I hate to admit it, it happened because of you. You've called me a coward numerous times because I run from what other people think of me, because I run from their hatred instead of standing up for myself. But I stood up for myself in there. And I have you to thank for it. So, perhaps you could inspire courage in these people, the way you did in me."

He looked very uncomfortable, shifting in his stance, and the scowl deepened on his face.

"I didn't do anything for you, and I don't care what happens to these fools." he replied angrily. "They'll learn courage on their own or they won't at all."

Jaelyn sighed and gave an eye roll. "Fine. If you won't do it, then I will."

"Yeah, you do that and you'll only do more damage than good."

"How do you figure that?"

"Help them and you make them depend on you to solve their problems. They aren't going to learn anything."

"Then why did you help me?"

"I didn't." he replied quickly. "I simply told you the truth; you had enough sense to figure out the rest on your own."

But he was lying...sort of. The truth was that he didn't exactly help her, but he didn't exactly not help, either. He just gave her a tiny nudge in the right direction. He'd always known she had it in her to be tough, to stand up for herself, but she cared too much about what people thought to actually do it. That was no longer the case. She finally got it through her thick skull to defend herself, to say 'screw you, world. I'm here and you're not going to change that.' There was a tiny, almost microscopic part of him that was proud of her. The rest of him thought it was about damn time.

Jaelyn shook her head at him in disbelief. This man was all sorts of confusing.

"Fine, then maybe telling them the truth will put courage in them."

"You already did that, in there." Bishop said, jerking a thumb behind him. "If they didn't get it, then they aren't going to. Well said, by the way. I haven't seen a group of men that scared in a long time. They looked ready to piss themselves."

Jaelyn accidentally cracked a smile at the comment, putting a hand over her mouth when Gulaonar gave her a stern look.

"I'm sorry." she said to him. "But they really did."

"This is not a laughing matter, Jaelyn." he scolded. "I'd expect it from him, but not from you. Apparently, you have been spending far too much time in his company."

"Now, now," Bishop said, mockingly. "No need in getting jealous, ghost. It's not like you'll ever be able to get at her."

Gulaonar made a disgusted face at him. "How dare you speak like that!"

The ghostly gray eyes burned red and his translucent form took on that shadowy cast, growing darker and thicker by the second. He was going to take care of this bastard once and for all.

Unfortunately, Jaelyn had other plans.

She stood in front of Bishop, facing Gulaonar with a stern, business-like expression.

"Stop it." she said, firmly. "I'm not going to let you attack him, so you might as well just give up."

The shadow was gone and the ghostly form popped back. Gulaonar stared at her in horror.

"Why are you protecting him?"

"Because you are overreacting!" she shouted back, her hands finding her hips. She might have been talking to a teenager throwing a tantrum.

Over her shoulder, Bishop gave the ghost a dark, menacing smile that spoke volumes.

Gulaonar could hardly stand it. Gods, how he wanted to kill that man, but Jaelyn...she wasn't going to allow it. She was beginning to harbor something for him, to feel something, and some how Gulaonar was going to have to stop it from happening. He would have to save Jaelyn from herself, even if it meant showing her something unpleasant about him...something that may very well break her heart.

Gulaonar shook his ghostly head in despair. "Keep doing this, Jaelyn, keep trusting him, keep listening to him, and you will destroy yourself."

"He's my friend, Gulaonar, whether you like it or not."

"Then you seal your doom, child." he replied with deep sorrow.

"Back off, ghost." Bishop snapped at him. "Let her make her own decisions."

"Like you do?"

The ranger grinned evilly. "Yeah, like I do."

Gulaonar sneered at him.

"One of these days, ranger, we are going to meet alone. And that day will be your last."

"I said stop, and I mean it!" Jaelyn shouted at him.

"I'm trying to protect you!"

"I don't need protection. I can take care of myself."

"No, you can't. You're blind, child, blinded by...what we talked about before. I thought you said you would try."

"I did." she said angrily. "But that was before I realized that you seem to be trying to turn me against him."

Gulaonar shook his head and struggled desperately to make her see.

"No, you don't understand. It's the other way around, damn it!"

"He's done nothing."

Gulaonar understood now. The only way he would get through to her was to show her the past, but this was not the time. He had to get her alone and he had to get her far enough away from that ranger.

Over near the longhouse, one of the council stepped out and made an announcement that drew the attention of the village. Natives stopped in the midst of whatever they were doing to listen.

The councilman was a tall, middle-aged man with long, salt and pepper hair, dark blue eyes, and a scar down the side of his left cheek.

"They have come to a decision. It's time to go back in." the ghost said.

The two rangers faced the council once more with the congregation of natives flanking them, crowding the door behind them and with Gulaonar and the council ahead of them.

The leader stood from his place, looking down at them.

"The council has reached its decision." Gulaonar translated. "After hearing what help you can offer us from Gulaonar just after the drow raid and after hearing it from you now, we have decided that in the best interests of our people, we would welcome whatever help you can provide, whatever you wish to teach us that will bring us victory. However, during the last attack, I noticed that the drow have weapons, deadly weapons, whereas my people only have very little to defend themselves with. Without proper weapons, I don't see how we will survive another attack."

Gulaonar smiled at the two rangers. "Ah, but I have a plan to change that."

"I'm glad somebody does." remarked Bishop. "Otherwise, this would've been an extraordinary waste of time."

"Then listen:" said the ghost. "Not far from here, about sixty miles or so, there's a cave in a cliff. The drow have turned it into a sort of storage house where they keep supplies. I haven't been in it, but there could be weapons in there."

"And what if there isn't?" Bishop prompted.

Gulaonar shrugged. "There has to be. There has to be at least something."

"And if there isn't?" the ranger pressed.

The ghost frowned in annoyance. "Then we will have to come up with a way to make weapons for them."

"You make that sound easy, as if there's steel just laying around waiting to be turned into swords, as if either of us knows how to make them."

"I didn't necessarily say swords. We could fashion clubs, bows, and spears. I'm sure it would be enough to work with."

"They need more if they're going to survive. Clubs and spears aren't going to be enough against an army of drow armed with swords." said Bishop and then paused for a moment, looking thoughtful. "Now that it comes to mind, I thought most of you drow were weapon masters? Renowned for it, from what I hear."

Gulaonar shook his head. "Dresmor is a skilled weapon master, he's the only one you have to worry about. The rest are rogues, rangers or fighters. Some are weapon masters, but not nearly as skilled as Dresmor."

Jaelyn frowned. "Drow rangers are a tough lot, as well. They've survived the worst climate in the world, so they won't be easy to defeat."

"No, perhaps not, but they have weaknesses and that's how we will defeat them, through exploiting them." Gulaonar replied. "In any case, we can talk about battle tactics later. I have a plan to get us into the storage room as well, which we will need to discuss after the meeting."

He turned back and translated to the leader and the council what had just been said between them and the plan on how they could get some weapons for the people.

The leader nodded throughout Gulaonar's translation.

"What do you think?" Jaelyn inquired to the ranger. "Are we wasting our time?"

"Yeah," he replied without hesitation.

Jaelyn looked over at him, frowning. He met her look with a dark smirk.

"They don't have a chance in the hells. No matter what we teach them, it's not going to be enough. The drow have the upper hand and because, exactly what you said, they've survived the worst climate in the world. These fools are nothing compared to the Underdark. It'll be a walk in the park."

"But we defeated them, didn't we?"

"Yeah, but they didn't have that big of a force." he replied. "If that's as good as they're going to get...then maybe they might have a small chance and only if we're around to help. But I have a feeling the drow can do much better than what we saw a few days ago."

She shook her head with a tiny smile. "If there's even the slightest chance that they can win, then it won't be a waste."

He gave her a meaningful look. "If the drow have a bigger force, you can forget about me helping. I'm not dying for these fools."

Jaelyn scoffed. "Don't you have faith in anything?"

He smiled grimly. "No. I've been let down enough to not bother with faith. Just believing in something isn't going to make everything work out in the end. You have to actually do something about it, and even then, it probably won't be enough."

"Well, I wish you would, because I have faith in them."

"That's the difference between you and I, drow."

Gulaonar finally turned back to them.

"It's settled." he said to them. "In three days time, you will start their training. That should give us enough time to raid the drow storage room. In the meantime, the natives will be having a ceremonial festival later on this evening-"

The ranger cut him off. "You're telling me these idiots are looking death in the face right now and they want to celebrate?"

"It's in your honor." Gulaonar said. "You are to become honorary members of their tribe." The ghost smiled faintly. "I expect that you are going to be...marked with a tribal motif."

"What? Oh, no." Bishop replied hastily. "No one's branding me, no way in the hells."

"To refuse will be an insult to them."

"I don't give a damn. No one's marking me, got it?"

He left no room for protest.

Jaelyn shook her head. "What's the big deal? I know you're not afraid of needles."

"Actually, they use a knife to mark someone." Gulaonar said. "I hear it's painful, but it will afford you great respect among them, for they plan to mark you with their sign of the warrior."

Jaelyn smiled. "Well, count me in. I'd be honored."

Gulaonar smiled and nodded. "Good. At least you will not make the both of you look any worse."

They both set meaningful glances on the ranger, who glared right back at them.

"I said no." he replied sternly. "What part of that word don't you understand?"

"All of it." Jaelyn shot back. "You're being ridiculous. They want to honor you and you're being an ass about it."

"Too damn bad."

"In any case," Gulaonar said, pushing the moment on. "The ceremony will begin just after sundown." He smiled. "You're both in for a good night. The natives really know how to throw a celebration."


	13. Chapter 13: Great Escape

**xxxxxx**

* * *

**Chapter Thirteen:**

**Great Escape**

**xxxxxx**

**Quince** Bramblebrow did what he had to do.

He told himself over and over that there wasn't actually a choice in this. He couldn't let a child die, not even to save his friends. He just couldn't. It was a child.

The halfling told his drow torturer everything he wanted to know about his companions. The drow didn't ask too many questions and he seemed strangely pleased towards the end.

Quin had erred. He had erred terribly in his moment of weakness, and now he was riddled with guilt and deeply stricken with sorrow. He'd known no greater despair than he did now.

He'd chosen the child's life over his friends'.

It didn't matter.

Once the drow had his information, he never hesitated to slit the child's throat before Quin's very eyes.

For several minutes, the halfling had gone numb with the horror of watching that child's life spill out of him, watching the innocent blood stain the hands of the wicked.

The body fell at his feet. The drow said something, but Quin hardly heard him over the thunder of his own heart, over the sounds of his own protesting screams.

Quin couldn't look away. He couldn't tear his gaze away from the tiny, still and bloody body laying there. The child's face was frozen into a terrified expression.

Despite his age and the language barrier, the child must've known what would become of him; he must've known the drow would kill him. Or maybe he thought something else; maybe that terrified look was from him thinking Quin had chosen to have him killed.

Some part of him knew he was being ridiculous, that the boy was too young to think like that and his people probably would'nt have known what blackmail was, but a larger part of him couldn't help but blame himself for all of it.

He had allowed himself to break and now a child was dead and his friends were in danger.

After the drow left the room, Quin was alone with the corpse. Death of a child in its own right was wrong and unnatural, but the death of a child by murder was monstrous and evil. There were no other words for it. It was just evil, and the worst kind of evil possible. The drow hadn't even hesitated, hadn't even thought for a second about the young, innocent life he was taking.

After what seemed like (and actually was) hours, the despair finally gave way to anger. No, not anger; rage. It was a rage Quin had never known, a rage he could not control; it was a rage that came out of him in the form of a vicious bellow so loud that it should've been impossible for his small throat and lungs to issue.

The little window on the door was pushed open and Quin's flaming blue eyes stared at it in hatred, at the dark face framed with white hair appearing in it.

"Shut your bloody face, Sakphul!" the drow demanded. "Before I come in there and cut you in half."

The little window slammed shut again.

Breathing heavily and growling, Quin began squirming violently against his bonds.

He couldn't stand it. He couldn't just sit there and take it anymore. He couldn't sit there and let that child's death go unpunished. He wanted revenge; he wanted to tear apart the drow that had done this. It didn't matter what the drow had done to him, and as of the moment, it didn't matter what they planned to do to his friends. Only the child mattered, only that innocent life that had been so cruelly snuffed out!

The solid rope that bound him cut into his already raw wrists and ankles, but he didn't feel it. He wasn't Quin anymore. He was someone with a dire purpose, someone with a single-minded objective. His mind was no longer working on various emotions. It was working on one alone; it was working on rage.

He stopped a moment, concentrated on his feet, and started to pull his legs in one direction and as hard as he could.

Quin clenched his teeth and pulled even harder until he began hearing a cracking sound. The extreme effort made his face contort, which in turn stretched the cut on his face open a little wider, but he still ceased to feel any pain.

He paused for a moment and then jerked his legs up hard, so hard that the rope was now deeply embedded in his skin. Quin hardly noticed. The cross bar his legs had been tied to cracked apart and now his legs had been freed of the chair, though they were still tied together.

He looked down shrewdly at the long piece of splintered wood and a grim smile came over his face.

A weapon.

With his legs now free, he pushed off of the floor to tip his chair over backwards. He made sure to lift his head up upon impact to avoid smashing it onto the stone floor. However, smashing his hands couldn't be avoided due to the fact that they were tied behind him and he was unable to move them. He could open them flat though to avoid breaking any fingers so that only his palms scraped against the floor.

Quin waited a few seconds to see if the guards outside would come in to see what the noise was. He had a plan if they did. But they didn't.

The halfling wiggled his body backwards so that the chair would slide a bit through his arms and he could get a foot onto the seat of the chair, lift his hips into the air and kick the chair out from under him, finally freeing himself of it.

When it was done, Quin rocked backwards and then lept up onto his feet in one smooth, acrobatic move.

He wasted no time in getting over to the splintered cross bar he'd broken off of the chair. Time was of the essence. He had no idea when that drow would return and if he didn't get his hands freed in time, then he'd have gone through all that trouble for nothing and that poor child's death would remain unavenged.

He had to sit down again in order to pick the wood up and then with it tightly gripped in his hand, he got back up and hopped over to the wall, his back facing it. He pressed the wood against the stone, held it in place with his lower body, leaned his upper body forward a bit and then began moving his arms in a side to side motion, the ropes around his wrist rubbing against the sharp splintered point of the wood.

It took a long time to saw through it; too long, Quin had feared, but when the ropes began loosening, he let go of the wood and used his own strength to break through his bonds. With his hands free, he took the piece of wood again and bent to cut through the rope around his legs. He hissed in pain when he had to pull them partially out of his ankle, which was bleeding a bit.

Now, completely free of any bonds other than the prison he stood in, Quin turned a fiercely determined look on the door. He limped over to it, sparing the child a look of remorse.

"They'll pay." the halfling said softly, choking on his words as tears burned his eyes. "I promise you. I'll make him pay, I'll make them all pay."

He looked away and approached the door, sternly.

Quin rapped on it several times and waited.

As he expected, the little barred window slid open. Quin jumped up, grabbed a hold of one of the bars to keep himself held at the window's height and glanced through the bars at a startled drow.

Quin grinned menacingly. "Hello."

"What in the hells? How'd-"

The drow's words were cut off as Quin thrust the piece of wood through the bars with all his might. It pierced through the drow's face in a splatter of blood and gore. He died instantly and fell back, taking the halfling's weapon with him.

Quin jumped back off the door, making sure to land on his good leg and waited for the other guard to come in. He could hear him fumbling with the bolt and locks, muttering incoherently.

The door finally swung open and the drow guard charged in, his sword leading the way. He spotted the halfling immediately and didn't stop.

Quin dodged the attack, danced painfully around the drow and limped off through the open door. He bent to grab the fallen drow's weapon and turned to meet his shadowing adversary.

Their blades clashed together.

The halfling kept the image of the dead child in his mind; he forgot about the fact that the drow was better than him, most likely more experienced and tougher than him, and not to mention stronger. The halfling may have been half of what the drow was, but he had something else on his side. He had good on his side, he had a strong purpose to fight for, and that was all the strength he needed.

The drow thrust and the halfling jumped away, wincing when he put all his weight on his injured leg; an arc came down at Quin swiftly and he parried it back. His foe came in with a combination and Quin had the defensive prowess to make sure none of the blows hit their mark. The drow was quick, admittedly, but he was taller than Quin, so when it came to speed, Quin had the upper hand. He would always have the upper hand on speed against any enemy taller and larger than he was.

Finally the halfling broke though the drow's attack, finding an opening and not hesitating to take it. On an upward slice of the drow's blade (a stupid move to try on a shorter opponent), Quin dove in with his sword, catching the drow right through his ribs. He angled the sword up as he pushed it in, making sure to catch some vital organs.

The drow groaned in agony and blood spurted out of his mouth and dribbled down his lips and chin. Quin shoved him off his blade and the drow died before he hit the floor.

Quin stood there a moment, staring down at the bodies, breathing heavily and his sword dripping dark elf blood on the floor. He was trembling. It wasn't from the exertion or the sadness in him. It wasn't even from the anger, either. It was from the horror. Staring at those bodies, knowing he killed them was not enough. More needed to die for this, more drow had to pay. It was a realization that made him sick. Quin was many things; a thief, a trickster, a scoundrel, and often times a smooth-talker. What he wasn't was a killer, yet he wanted to kill more drow. He wanted to kill all of them, every last one of them on this island; possibly even the ones underground in Faerun. If they were all like this, if they were all this evil and monstrous, then they deserved to be wiped off the planet. He hated them, he hated them more than he could put into words.

Quin drug the bodies into the torture chamber and then closed the door, turning to face the long corridor before him.

He had no idea where it would lead, but he had no choice but to follow it.

His limping steps were somewhat quiet along the stone floor and he realized for the first time that those tortured screams he'd heard when he'd first awoken in there were now silenced. There were no sounds at all.

Quin crept painfully along and came to a wooden door. He pressed his ear to it and heard nothing. He reached to the door handle and turned it slowly, pushing the door open a crack to peer inside.

The room was dark, dusty and empty. Quin silently closed the door and continued on to the next.

Room after room yeilded nothing but a few crudely constructed racks, and other implements of torture that looked like they hadn't been used much, and it was beginning to irritate the halfling. He knew he'd heard screams before, he knew someone had been tortured somewhere along this hall, so where were they?

He finally came to it.

It was the last door at the end of the hall.

When Quin had put his ear to the door, he could hear whimpering coming from the inside. He opened it a crack and his eyes widened at what he saw.

Children.

There were six of them, and they were all huddled in a corner of the room, frightened and crying, their arms around each other as if afraid they would be seperated or taken away at any second. And by the looks of them, it seemed that that was probably the case. They were bruised, bloody and cut up, and they seemed to be trying not to cry, their eyes all squeezed shut against something, as if they were too afraid to open them. There was no one else in the room that Quin could see.

He gripped his sword tight, pushed the door open. He waited in case there was a drow waiting for him. When no one came, he entered, glancing quickly around the door to make sure no one was hiding behind it.

And that was when he saw what the children were trying not to look at.

It was the body of a woman laying on a table. Her head was gone. It lay beneath the table, its grusome face staring right at those crying children. Quin knew without a doubt that she had been the mother of one of those children. It only proved to make Quin all the more furious.

"Bastards."

He took a breath to still his boiling insides, his desire to find a drow and rip him to pieces. He had to put his hatred aside. These children needed him. He was not going to let the drow kill them, too. He was not going to let it happen again.

The halfling approached the children and they all huddled closer together into a tight ball, whimpering again in terror. Quin knelt before them, grimacing a bit when his ankle protested, and then his face creased in sadness.

"Hello, there." he said gently, trying desperately to keep a quiver out of his voice. "My name's Quin. I'm here to help you."

He got no response. The children kept together, sobbing.

Quin shook his head. Of course, he wasn't going to get a response. They couldn't understand him, they didn't speak his language or he their's.

He recalled a particular native word though, a word the native man he'd spoken briefly to had uttered a few times. Quin had no idea what it meant, but maybe if the children heard him use one of their words, they'd know he was a friend, or at least that he wanted to help them.

"Ta...keet." he said, experimentally. "Keet?"

It worked.

Sometime later, Quin would find out that the native word 'keet' meant child and that the native man he'd been imprisoned with had thought the halfling was one.

One of the children, a little girl with a tear-stained, cherub-like face looked up at him with large, red-rimmed eyes. There was a bruise under one eye and she had a split lip caked with dry blood.

Quin forced a smile and nodded. "I'm here to help."

He reached out a hand but she shrank away violently, sobbing in terror.

Quin frowned and shook his head. "No, no. I'm not going to hurt you. See?"

He touched the girl gently on the face, gave it a gentle, reassuring caress. She flinched upon the contact, but then slowly, she looked up at him.

"See, I'm not going to hurt you." he said again, keeping his voice soft. "I know you can't understand me, but I'm going to get all of you out of here...somehow. I promise."

He knew he shouldn't have been making promises. He had been working on anger alone, on rage, but it had calmed down in him enough so that he could think clearly. He had no idea where he was or how he was going to get out.

The little girl reached out and tugged his arm. Quin looked at her in surprise.

She spoke rapidly but quietly in native and Quin shook his head, unable to understand her.

The girl made a gesture to the other door in the room and said a word they both understood.

"Drow."

"Behind that door? How many?"

He shook his head and then made a gesture as if counting on his fingers. Amazingly, the girl understood. It appeared that the natives were no strangers to counting in such a manner.

The girl looked down at her hand and then lifted two fingers, pointing at the door again with her free hand.

Quin pointed down at his sword and then pointed at the door, wondering how armed the drow were, but the girl didn't understand. She stared at him strangely.

_Ah well_, he thought. _What choice do I have? There's no other door and the corridor I just came from was a dead end. I have to go through that door if I want to save these children_.

Quin directed the girl back to her friends. She huddled against them, her arms going around a trembling boy.

The halfling approached the door and looked at the girl, pressing a finger to his lips in hopes that she would understand the gesture. She aped it, but she was also being quiet.

Quin knew what he would have to do in front of these children, but he also knew that they had seen worse and his actions, unlike the drows, would possibly save their lives.

Using the same tactic as before, Quin rapped on the door. A moment later, he heard the little window panel slide open. As before, Quin lept on the door, grabbed hold of the bars on the window to steady himself and then stabbed his sword through the opening without even bothering to look and then yanked it back. There was blood on the blade, a lot of blood. He heard someone on the other side gurgling violently and guessed he'd got the bastard in the throat. He jumped back and wedged himself against the wall, waiting for the door to open. He heard someone fumbling with the lock and speaking angrily in a langauge the halfling didn't understand. And then the door opened.

The moment the drow stepped through, Quin stabbed. The blade went into the dark elf's thigh, forcing him down on his other knee and then they were staring into each other's face.

It was the drow Quin wanted. It was his torturer; it was the child-killer.

Rage renewed itself in the halfling and took over once again.

"_You_!" he roared, his eyes so wide they nearly took up his entire face. "You son of a bitch! You evil piece of garbage!"

Quin struck out and missed. The drow dodged backward just in time, ignoring his pained leg.

"How did you get out?" he demanded. "I knew I should have killed you the moment you ceased to be useful."

"But you didn't, did you?" Quin shot back. "And now I'm going to kill you. You're going to pay for what you did!"

"What I did?" the drow laughed. "You should be thanking me, Sakphul. What I did to that child was mercy compared to what we drow are going to do to the rest of these..._vermin_."

"Vermin? So says the hole-dwelling drow! Whether by choice or by exile, your kind deserves to be forced into the Underdark. Your people are a blight, a disease. You're venom. A taint!"

The drow smiled. "And you, Sakphul, have befriended one of our kind. What does that say about you?"

Quin's face showed his horror, the horror at his own words. He didn't realize in his anger that he was saying these things, these rascist remarks and there was one drow out there that he cared for, that was his friend. All he'd said was an insult to her as well. He felt ashamed of himself.

"No." Quin replied firmly. "She's nothing like you, like any of you. She's the only one of your kind with a heart."

The drow laughed again. "Indeed? Then it shall be her downfall, as it has been for all drow who love, who show compassion and mercy. These weak emotions are the horrors that derive from breeding outside ones race. Whatever drow mixed their blood with that of a surface elf deserves death! That unnatural half-breed should have been terminated at birth. Such a thing would not have been allowed in the Underdark."

"Well, take a look around, drow. This isn't the Underdark anymore." Quin snapped. "And you are going to pay for your crime!"

The halfling sliced his sword at the drow and it was countered agilely, coming back with a reversed upward arc. Their blades met so violently that Quin stumbled back a few steps. The drow jumped forward to take advantage of the opening, thrusting his sword in at Quin. Quin bent back and the blade sliced up the length of his stomach, narrowly missing him. The point of the blade was jabbing into the bottom of the halfling's chin, close to drawing blood. The drow forced the blade, but Quin knocked the weapon away and straightened up only to be kicked firmly in the stomach by the drow. Quin went sprawling backwards, landing hard on his side. His sword bounced away to his left, out of reach.

The drow stabbed downward, meaning to end the halfling once and for all, but Quin thwarted him by rolling quickly to his left and right over his weapon.

Quin tried to pull it out as the drow advanced, but it was caught on something. His belt.

He yanked hard but it wouldn't budge.

The drow was standing over him now. Quin could see his shadow against the stone floor, his sword raised to end him.

_Damn it!_ He couldn't get the sword loose. He moved to roll away to elude the attack when something metal flew across the room and struck the drow in the back of the head.

The drow hardly budged, but a small wince on his face showed the pain it had caused, however small. It drew his attention away long enough for Quin to wrestle with his sword.

The little girl was standing near, her arms down at her sides and her small hands curled into tight fists that trembled visibly. Her face was contorted in anger.

"Little bitch." the drow spat. "You'll pay for that."

But she didn't seem afraid anymore. She held her ground, valourously(foolishly).

The drow went after her.

"No!" Quin shouted in horror.

_Not again! Never again!_

His own safety thrown aside, Quin charged hard at the drow, somehow freeing his weapon in his desperation. The drow turned just in time to find himself impaled on Quin's sword. The weapon came so hard and quick that the blade went in to the hilt.

For a long moment, the two opponents stood there as if frozen, the drow struggling to stay alive and Quin surprised that he himself still was.

Finally, the drow laughed, stumbled backwards and fell dead, taking Quin's sword with him.

The little girl ran to Quin in tears, wrapping her small arms around the halfling's neck. He patted her awkwardly on the back. He could deal with crying women; he could even deal with crying men, but what he wasn't good at dealing with was crying children. He never knew what to say to one to get them to stop, and his struggle was even worse now because they didn't speak the same language. So, he merely stood there and patted her back until she calmed down.

The girl finally pulled away and began babbling in her launguage, pointing at the open door while she rubbed at her watery eyes and sniffled.

Quin had no idea what she wanted, but he had his own ideas. He nodded and pointed to the floor.

"Stay here."

The girl gave him a confused look.

He pointed to the floor again and shook his head.

That only made it worse.

"Uhh...oh."

He pointed to himself, pointed at the other room and nodded with a smile, then he pointed at her, pointed at the room and shook his head with a frown. Finally, he pointed at her and pointed at the floor with a nod.

She understood and went back to comfort her friends.

Quin wiped his brow and entered the other room.

Inside, he found weapons, a few chests, a table in the middle of the room with a large parchment map on it and another door.

He quickly raided the chests, found his confiscated belongings in one and a good deal of gold in the other. Despite the circumstances, his insitincts won over in the moment and he pocketed as much gold as he could carry, which he would later split with his companions. He then climbed up into a chair and leaned over the table to look at the large map. It was of the island, and several places on it were marked. Quin looked at it for a few moments longer and then began carefully rolling it up. He put it in his pack and climbed down from the chair.

Quin grabbed another sword off the rack nearby and then approached the door with caution. As the other times before, he stood at the side and rapped on the door a few times. No one answered.

He pushed the door open and peered around the threshold only to find himself looking at another corridor. It led both left and right.

The right led down to another door where orange, flickering light was pouring in and the left led to a set of stairs descending into the floor. Obviously, Quin chose the right.

He followed it all the way to the door where that orange light was coming from. He tested the handle, turned it quietly and opened the door a crack to see what lay beyond.

It was freedom at last.

But two drow were guarding it.

Quin didn't have the strength to fight another opponent, let alone two of them. His leg was throbbing to a point where he could almost put no weight on it at all and he was exhausted from the other fights.

Quin had no idea how he was going to get past them. He needed to think about it but he had to do it fast. There was no telling when the drow might have a shift change or if one might come in for a bite to eat.

Quin began limping back the way he'd come and reentered the armory or whatever it was.

He sat down in a chair and sighed heavily as he glanced around the room for something that might aid him.

There were a few polearms in the weapon racks, along with some swords, a broken longbow, and other assorted weaponry.

He briefly wondered where the drow could've gotten all these weapons. Surely they hadn't brought them all from the Underdark. No, Quin knew weapons and none of these were drow made. Drow weapons usually carried some kind of enchantment (couldn't survive the Underdark without it) Still, they were pristinely made nevertheless, made by someone especially good at their craft.

Quin looked down at the sword in his hand, studied it for a moment, turning it over and over. There was a small marking just below the cross piece on the blade. It was a lone impression of a sword, probably the makers hallmark.

He stood up and went to one of the weapon racks and turned a halbred around.

Yes, that one had it, too. So he'd been right. The weapons were made by the same person.

Well, that really wasn't important at the moment. He could wonder about how the drow got the weapons later. For now, he needed to concentrate on getting out with the children.

The children were all quiet. Quin craned his head around to look through the threshold into the next room and saw the children still huddled in their corner. Some of them were still crying, but they were doing so silently. The girl looked up at him and smiled.

Some how, she understood what he was trying to do.

Quin smiled back and focused.

Another look through the available weapons and Quin noted a crossbow, which might be what he needed if there were bolts anywhere. He sorted through a small cylander container holding a few old-looking swords, rifled through a strongbox sitting beside one of the weapon racks and found only a shield of some sort inside. He went across the room and found the bolts inside a quiver, along with a good number of arrows. He took out two bolts and retrieved the crossbow.

He was only going to have one shot at this. If he did it properly, he would only have to fight one drow.

Quin grabbed the chair, placed the crossbow on it and half-dragged and half-carried it as quietly as possible down the hall toward the door.

The moment he sat it down, he realized he left his sword inside the armory.

With an inward curse, he went back to get it and then returned to the chair moments later, out of breath. He sat down to rest a moment.

How in the hells was he going to fight? He could hardly stand. His limbs, especially his injured leg, felt like lead. His entire body and mind were exhausted from days of torture.

_Come on, Quin. It's for the children. You promised them._

Quin forced himself up and sat his sword against the wall so that it was within his reach. He then adjusted the chair in front of the door and then climbed into it.

He took up his crossbow, loaded a bolt and aimed it at the little barred window. With the foot of his injured leg, he knocked against the door, ignored the pain and prayed to every god and goddess that his luck would hold out, that the panel would open and not the door itself.

Tymora, sweet, lovely goddess of fortune, smiled on the halfling.

The panel slid back and a dark face with white hair peered through it, the pale pink eyes widening at the site of Quin. Then a bolt entered his forehead and solved the drow's fatal curiosity.

Quin jumped back off the chair, fumbling for his sword on the way down and landed on his injured leg. White hot pain shot up from it and he couldn't stifle his cry of agony as he hit the ground.

Seconds later, the door burst open, sending the chair against the wall and into pieces. An enraged drow stood in the threshold, weapon drawn and his frame outlined by the warm torchlight from outside.

He shouted something Quin couldn't understand and than advanced on him. Quin barely had enough time to grab his sword and throw it up to block the drow's attack.

The next attack would have killed him, for Quin no longer had the strength to lift up his sword, but the drow never got the chance.

Random objects bombarded the drow. Sneering, he swung his sword about to parry the objects that were being hurled at him by the children.

It gave Quin enough time to get to his feet, using his sword to aid him.

A stone caught the drow on the side of his face, making a nasty cut in it that had blood trickling down his face, but it didn't stun him. It furthered his anger.

With an animalistic growl, the drow forgot about Quin and went after the children.

Quin reacted as quick as he could, but the only thing he could do was trip the drow up. It was enough.

The drow stumbled and fell and Quin was on him in a heart beat, stabbing and stabbing and stabbing until the drow was no longer moving.

Then, out of sheer exhaustion, Quin rolled over and blacked out.


	14. Chapter 14: Challenge

**xxxxxx**

* * *

**Chapter Fourteen:**

**Challenge**

**xxxxxx**

**Jaelyn** was surrounded by a train of native women, all of them performing some kind of task in preparing her for the marking ceremony and the celebration.

Two of them flanked her head, each grasping handfuls of her dull, white hair and trying to brush the age-old knots and tangles out. Another was attempting to clean out from under her nails with some kind of pick, which didn't bother her as much as the women with the combs did.

Jaelyn was aware of what combs and brushes were, she just personally chose not to use them. What was the point of brushing one's hair when it was just going to keep getting tangled anyway? It was better to let it be, or to just put it up out of the way. Still, she was amazed at how soft and straight her hair was once it was devoid of the jungle and the pain of her stinging scalp diminished. And a jungle her hair had been. The drow hadn't known one's hair could contain so many leaves, twigs and other miscellaneous greenery. It was as if something had tried to make a nest in there and then gave up, deciding it wasn't worth the effort.

Once they had finished up with her hair, Jaelyn pulled out her dagger, curious to see what her hair looked like when it was properly taken care of. Since the natives had no clue what a mirror was, she was left with looking at herself in the reflection of her dagger's blade.

She was more than a little surprised. She had never been a vain person, but even she could admit how lovely she looked. It was too bad she had never gotten that bath, otherwise she might have been stunning. There were dirt smudges on her face, spots of dried blood that she had missed, and some other assorted and questionable marks that she had no idea about.

And just as the idea of a bath came into her mind, she was then being stripped of everything on her body except that which she was born with as three other women began filling a large tub with hot water in the corner of the shelter. Jaelyn stood there exposed, her hands placed strategically to cover her intimate parts and feeling a blush starting from the very roots of her hair and creeping down to the very tips of her toes. She understood that they were all women and that they all shared the same anatomy, but she'd never in her life been naked in front of so many. No one was paying her any heed, too consumed with readying her for the ceremony. One woman was preparing her outfit, which she noticed was nothing more than a tan, animal hide brassier-like top and a shamefully short skirt; it was much like what all the other native women were wearing but hers was beaded and studded and had strange tribal designs all over it in green. Another woman was preparing something at the table in the shelter. That woman just happened to be Tega, who'd helped in healing Jaelyn's wounds. The two women at the tub were now pouring some kind of oils into the bath water and then the shelter came alive with the strong fragrance of jasmine.

Without warning, Jaelyn found herself being shuffled over to the tub and forced into it before she had time to get used to the temperature of the water, which was hot but thankfully not boiling. She hissed at the shock of the heat as three of the women knelt down beside the tub and began scrubbing her down with some kind of soap which smelled strongly of yarrow and burned like acid.

She bit down on her lip and bravely endured the torture, though once or twice she almost cried. By the end, her skin was glowing, which was apparently what they were trying to get it to do. Either that or they were attempting to flay her skin from her bones with only a bar of soap.

One of the women positioned herself behind her and took a clay jug from another woman, dipping it into the water and then pouring it over Jaelyn's head. The drow sputtered water out of her mouth, and wiped it out of her eyes.

She glanced across the shelter at Tega, who was finishing up with whatever she was doing at the table.

"Is all this necessary?" she asked her in drow.

"Yes," the woman replied in the same language, the only language they could communicate by. "It is tradition for one being honored at a marking ceremony to be given the best treatment we have to offer. Besides, your skin must be devoid of dirt and the like in order for you to receive the mark of the warrior. If the site is not clean, you could get an infection and possibly loose the limb."

Jaelyn blanched a little. "I see. Well, then, nevermind."

Tega came over, holding a small clay bowl in her hands and handed it over to the woman kneeling behind Jaelyn. The woman then proceeded to put whatever was in the bowl on Jaelyn's head. The substance was thick but it was fragrant, so the drow supposed it was some kind of hair wash. The woman's hands gently massaged the thick goo in, which felt like heaven against her scalp. She leaned back in the tub with a small sigh of appreciation, enjoying every minute of the treatment, for she was probably never going to experience it again.

Eventually, the head message made her grow drowsy but that was cured when a jug of cold water splashed over her head and made her bolt up straight, the quick movement causing the water to slosh over the rim of the tub.

She rubbed water out of her eyes.

"You said all who are honored receive this treatment?" she asked Tega. "Does that include my friend?"

She entertained the idea of Bishop being tossed in a similar acid wash and her 'inner, darker drow' laughed maniacally with glee. What she wouldn't give to witness something like that.

Tega frowned, not bothering to hide her disdain with the situation regarding the ranger. "Unfortunately, your...'_friend_' declined our gesture of honor. So instead of being marked as a warrior, he will be asked to join the ceremonial hunt. It will afford him a degree of respect among us. However, not as much as bearing a warrior's mark might."

The hunt actually sounded more fun than getting the tattoo, but Jaelyn wasn't about to complain. She needed all the respect she could get among them.

The woman sitting behind her rinsed her hair a few more times and then wrung the water out of it. Jaelyn was then being pulled out of the tub and toweled off at a remarkable speed.

The hide outfit (what little bits of it there were) was then being placed and pulled onto her and then was laced and fastened up. She was then sitting in the chair she'd been in before and two women were back to flanking her head again, combs in hand.

She eyed them warily. She was not looking forward to the combs, again.

The women made quick and rough motions with their little torture devices, occasionally pulling out hair in small clumps and creating scalp trauma. At the end, Jaelyn was surprised she even had any hair left and that her head wasn't bleeding. Her scalp felt like it was on fire again, completely negating the soothing effects of the massage she'd had moments ago. The women began braiding strands of her hair that framed her face and then ornamenting the ends with small wooden beads of brown and green to match her outfit. The rest of her hair they left hanging down her back, the long, white strands nearly reaching her waist. She was almost tempted to have them just hack it off short, but then decided against it. As much as she hated how it got in the way sometimes, she was attached to it. After all, it was the hair she was born with and had grown up with.

When they finished up with her, one of the women gave Jaelyn a comb as a gift. The drow wondered briefly if the woman was trying to tell her something in a subtle manner but the smile on her face and the sincere look told her that the woman was offering it as a true gift.

Jaelyn tried to give it back, but the woman wasn't having it. She said it was the only thing she had to offer in return for Jaelyn saving her life. Apparently, during the raid, one of Jaelyn's arrows had struck a drow that had been in the process of trying to kill the woman.

She accepted the gift. It would've been rude not to.

When the women were gone, Feral came out from underneath the bed where he'd been hiding and climbed up onto it next to Jaelyn, giving her arm an eager rub.

She scratched behind his ear, staring at the comb in her other hand.

It was old but impressively made, constructed out of some kind of bone with a tropical scene carved into it. There was a boat, riding against the waves while the sun set over the horizon. It wasn't colored or anything, just carved. It was beautiful; it was one of the best gifts Jaelyn had ever received.

And she realized something.

The natives must've seen boats to have carved that scene into the comb. Was it the boat the drow had come on? If it was, was it still about somewhere? It could be their way off the island.

Jaelyn made a strangled sound of shock and then shot up from the bed, clutching the comb tight.

"Stay there." she said to Feral, who gave her a befuddled expression, shrugged and then curled up on the bed.

Jaelyn bolted out of the shelter, nearly running down Bishop, who'd been lurking nearby, waiting for those women to leave so he could come in there and poke some fun at her to pass the time, and because he was secretly hoping to catch her without any clothes on.

Hands grabbed her shoulders to avoid a head-on collision and gold eyes roamed over her carefully, noting the amount of skin exposed courtesy of her new outfit (or lack thereof), the cleanliness and soft look of it, the renewed brilliance of her white hair and the floral scents coming from her.

"In a hurry?"

"Yes and you're in the way." she said, smartly. "I think we may have a way off this island. That is, if it's still around."

"Eh?"

She thrust her comb under his nose and pointed at it.

"This."

He looked at it, at her, and wondered, not for the first time, if she'd lost her marbles. And as with all insane people, it was best just to humor them.

"A comb?"

Jaelyn frowned at him. "No, you idiot. The boat."

"I don't get it."

"Look, one of those native women gave me this comb. They made it, so they must've seen this boat before. That's the only way they'd know about one. Remember what Gulaonar said? He and the other drow crashed on the island. So, I was thinking, maybe their boat is still around here somewhere."

"If they crashed, then the boat's obviously damaged." he pointed out. "So, there goes that idea."

"The way I see it is if we help these natives with the drow, then they'll owe us. They can pay us back by fixing the boat." she replied. "It may be a little...mean, but it's our only chance to get off this island."

He looked at her curiously for a moment and then smirked in a devilish fashion. "Might work. But...wouldn't that ghost have mentioned something about his boat if it were around?"

Jaelyn frowned again. "Not if he wants to make sure we help the natives fight the drow. He'll keep any chance of us getting off this rock secret until the drow are taken care of. He's desperate to protect these people. And besides, I get the feeling that he's keeping things from us, anyway. A lot of things."

Bishop's smirk widened.

_More than you know,_ was his thought, but he didn't dare speak it out loud.

"Yeah," he agreed. "I get that feeling, too. Glad to see you're paying attention to things like that."

She cocked her head to the side. "Well, I'm not blind, you know. Nor am I stupid."

"That's only one person's opinion."

Jaelyn put her hands on her hips. "Oh? Then what's yours?"

She knew she was asking for it before she even spoke the words, but they came out anyway. There her mouth went again, running away with the words before her brain had time to approve them.

"What do you care?"

Jaelyn shrugged. "Well, despite how much I'm going to regret saying this, you are kind of a friend to me. And the opinion of my friends do matter."

He rose a brow and seemed on the verge of a laugh. She was going to slap him if he did.

"A friend, am I?" was his unpredictable response.

Jaelyn held out her hand, her thumb and forefinger measuring out an inch of space. "Only that much."

Bishop moved, closing up distance between them and making Jaelyn retreat from him until her back hit the hide walls of her shelter. He trapped her there, his hands planted on the wall and at her sides so there was no possible way she could elude him.

"Is that all?" His voice was low and husky, laced with seduction.

Jaelyn fought off the maddening urge to press herself against him. It felt as if their bodies were magnets, strongly being pulled to one another.

Her hand curled around one of the shelter's support posts. Her body was not a magnet. She was not going to throw herself at him.

As it turned out, she didn't need to.

It shouldn't have come to a surprise when he closed in on her, but she still found her breath lodging itself in her throat, stubbornly refusing to budge.

Her grip of the support post tightened until she feared her knuckles would split through her skin.

Due to her short stature, he was bent a bit, but still able to have a good portion of himself wedged up against her, slightly crushing her back against the wall.

The close proximity made Jaelyn extremely alarmed, terrified, embarrassed, aroused, angry, and a load of other confusing things that made her head spin. He was all warm, hard muscle and strength and man. And he had a heavenly scent. To any other woman not familiar with the outdoors, he might have smelt like an unwashed tramp, but to her he had the scents of nature around him, of leather and dirt mingled with the thick smell of smoke from countless campfires, and just a faint hint of pinewood.

He was intimidating as much as he was alluring, and she was stuck between kicking him in his soft dangly bits and dragging him into her shelter to have some fun with him. The last bit was shocking, for she had never done anything like that before and had no idea how to go about doing it. Her feelings were natural, she supposed and continuously told herself. Her...desires toward him were just a part of the feminine nature, nothing more, but even still, they were damn hard to ignore and nearly impossible to keep from acting upon. It seemed everything inside, every part of her body was yearning to have those desires sated, to know a man in that manner. And there was a man in front of her now, willing to go all the way, no doubt. She wondered if maybe she should just do it and get it over with. After all, once it was out of the way, those feelings would be gone and she could concentrate on other, more important matters. But then another part of her thought it wasn't a very good idea. When Weilsung had tried to explain the 'birds and bees' to a young, confused Jaelyn, he had told her that it was a type of bond between two people who loved one another very much, it was an expression of love. She may have liked and cared about Bishop to a minute degree, but she in no way or form loved the guy and she never would. Loving someone like him would be beyond idiocy and madness. He would never return those feelings.

At this close proximity, Jaelyn got a good look into those golden eyes. From far away, that's exactly what they looked like: liquid gold, but up close, one could see the deeper brown around the abyssal pupils. Gorgeous eyes, admittedly; it was just a shame they were on such a beast.

There was something else of note in his eyes. It was a very predatory look; a gleaming, hungry expression.

His mouth curved as he brought his face closer to hers. His mouth just barely brushed hers, teasing her, or perhaps provoking her into action.

Her knees threatened to give out. Damn knees.

"Breathe." he said, his tone full of mocking.

Had she still been holding her breath?

Apparently, she had, for she suddenly realized how lightheaded she'd become.

Bishop pulled away from her, laughing.

"You're far too weak, drow," he went on. "If you nearly swoon when a man gets too close to you. You wouldn't last five minutes in my bed."

Jaelyn frowned. Weak? What in the Nine Hells was that supposed to mean? And who in the Nine Hells even said she wanted to be anywhere near his bed, let alone in it? Well, she was going to show him.

"Swoon?" she said with a scoff. "You're misunderstanding what you see. I was merely holding my breath against your smell. It may be a new concept to you, but there is this thing called a bath. Try it sometime, for all our sakes."

She knew it was a cheap shot (and an untruthful one as well, considering she actually liked the way he smelled), but she didn't care. Weak? Where in the hells does he got off?

"Now, if you'll excuse me..."

Jaelyn pushed past him, his gaze on her every move and a sinister expression on his face.

Let her say what she wanted. He knew he had her. He'd seen the desire in her for him behind all the fear and uncertainty; it was there and it was growing. It just needed to be fed a little bit more, until she could no longer deny it, until she gave in.

Jaelyn crossed the village square, trying desperately to hold back the anger she felt at the ranger's insult. She should've been used to all of his mocking by now and she didn't know why she wasn't, or why she was letting him get to her so much.

Well, she'd admitted it to him, didn't she? His opinion of her mattered because she had the unfortunate stupidity to call him 'friend' when he was more like 'annoying, deriding man who won't shut up for everyone's sake'. She supposed she called him 'friend' because of all the things he'd done for her over their journey together, though in actuality, 'friend' was really a loose term. She didn't consider him a friend as she considered Quin one, but a part of her had to appreciate him for how he had taught her to stand up for herself, and she respected him to a small degree as a fellow ranger, mostly for his prowess with the bow and his uncanny ability to track. Other than that, there was nothing else about him worthy enough to be labeled 'friend' material. She trusted Quin with her life; she trusted Bishop about as much as she trusted Feral not to maim and eat a hostile drow. She understood Quin's intentions, knew that he was always out to do what was best, but when it came to the ranger, she had no clue what his intentions were even at the best of times. Though she liked his unpredictable nature, it was often alarming and frightening when she didn't know what he was up to. Like his sudden 'interest' in her. Ever since they'd met, there'd been a whole lot of hostility toward each other and not much getting along, which made her liking him all the more confusing. And now he seemed to have grown some kind of interest in her. She was suspicious and she planned to do some deep investigating.

Well, that would come later. For now, she needed to focus on this boat.

Jaelyn headed for the shelter she knew the leader of the tribe lived in. It was the largest shelter in the village, constructed to look kingly(or as kingly as the natives could manage) and somewhat elaborate to set him apart from everyone else. His was a two story shelter with a set of outside stairs leading up the side of the shelter to the second floor rooms. The poles that held the structure up were towering and thick, and engraved with tribal symbols and strange pictographs. The roof was different than all the others, making a cone shape with colorful pieces of straw sticking out at the top instead of the flat square roofs all the other shelters possessed. The front door was wide and covered with a fine looking piece of fabric that probably would've looked better on the back of a couch, hung on a wall, or placed under a table or something.

There were two dark-haired men standing outside the door, one of them incredibly tall and buff and the other of average height and build, with their arms crossed over their chests. They seemed to be guards.

As Jaelyn approached, the large one held out a meaty hand, tattooed in green, to stop her. He looked her up and down with a frown and spoke something in the native tongue.

Jaelyn frowned at him, sticking her hands on her hips. She had enough of male aggression for one day.

In drow, she said "Look, I know you understand me. So speak drow. I need to talk with your leader. Now."

The man's frown became a sneer and he spoke in drow as if the words had a funny taste. "You may not see him. Without a summons, you cannot enter."

His drow was crude at best, but she understood him well enough and she knew he understood her.

"I don't need a summons!" she shouted at him, impatient and frustrated. "Need I remind you that I'm the one that helped fend off the drow that attacked your village?"

Jaelyn knew it was mean, but she didn't care. He was in the way, damn it, and he didn't look to be moving any time soon. She was close to physically removing him, though she knew that would be a bit of trouble given his size compared to hers. It would've been like an ant trying to move a boulder.

"It may mean something to...to..." the man struggled with the appropriate drow word for leader and settled for 'lord'. "Lord Olland, but it means little to me. You fight your own people. If your own people mean so little to you, than others will mean even less."

"I beg your pardon?" Jaelyn snapped. "I'll have you know, sir, that I fought my own people because I had no choice in the matter. They would've killed you! How dare you stand there and make what I did-what my friend and I did-nothing! We risked our lives to save yours!"

"Risk?" the man replied, his face contorted in hatred. "You fight from a distance with...with those little flying sharp sticks, not face to face like a true warrior. You don't deserve the title, nor the honor of the warrior mark! Lord Olland offers it because he can offer nothing else."

Jaelyn's hands, clenched tight at her sides, shook with her anger. She thought about turning away and leaving, just forget about it and wait until she got to this Olland when he was away from his guards. She even felt her foot slide back, but no, that's what this bastard wanted, it was what they all wanted, what they were all trying to get her to do. They wanted her to back down. Well, not this time. Not ever again. She was done backing down and running away.

"Is that so?" she growled at him. "Well, then, how about I challenge you to combat? How about I earn the mark of the warrior through your blood?"

Jaelyn could hardly believe the words coming out of her mouth, how angry and blood-thirsty they sounded. Why was she even doing this? What did she have to prove to this man?

_That you're more of a warrior than he is. He probably cowered during the raid with the women and children!_ came the angry, insulted voice of Pride from between her ears. _So, come on, prove yourself! Make a fool of him!_

The man grinned. "You challenge me? High guard to Lord Olland; his most trusted warrior?"

His comrade was smiling, too, but in a less nasty way. He merely looked amused at the prospect of Jaelyn fighting the man, or so she assumed.

"That's right." she replied, firmly. "I challenge you! Do you accept?"

"I accept, but we will face off as true warriors. No distance, but face to face and hand to hand."

_Hand to hand? But...that guy's huge! It's an unfair advantage!_

Jaelyn swallowed but held her ground and heard herself say "Fine. Hand to hand, then."

The man grinned again. "Good. I will inform Lord Olland of the challenge. He will want to witness it, I am certain and it will likely be held at the ceremony. Before you are marked, let us pray."

He turned to his comrade, spoke a few words to him in native and then disappeared behind the curtain.

Jaelyn looked at the other guard, who smiled at her. He was a nice looking man, well-built, but not as buff as the other. His features were angled, strong and masculine, and he had round, dark blue eyes like sapphires. His mouth spoke of a life of good humor, for it had a natural upward curve and made him look all the more handsome when it was in full-smile. His jet-black hair was short and unkempt. He had the tribal tattoos twining down his muscular arms to his wrist. They spread across his chest and neck and one particular strand of markings curled up across the left side of his jawline to his temple and then spread out to his left eye. The tattoos seemed to be some kind of small symbols or possibly the native's version of writing set in a vine-like pattern. They were very elaborate and no doubt they'd been painful, especially coming that close to the eye. Still, she found the man alluring.

He cleared his throat in a nervous manner and she saw that his face colored a bit.

"I must apologize for him." he spoke in drow, his voice deep and resonating. "He...hates your kind. They murdered his wife during the raid."

"I am not like them." she replied, sternly in defense.

The man shook his head. "No, you are not. I know that. I saw you during the raid and I've seen you around the village, how you interact with us. You are far from what those..._others_ are. Grimnar, son of Grimmar is still grieving his wife. He lashes out, it is his way of coping with the loss. Actually, I think maybe this fight is what he needs, despite what the outcome will be."

Jaelyn lifted a brow. "Despite the outcome? What do you see happening?"

The man smiled, making Jaelyn's heart skip a beat.

_Dear gods..._

"There is a saying from where you come from. He will have his...head handed to him?" he said, uncertainly and then laughed. "I believe it went something like that."

Jaelyn nodded with her own humorous smile. "That's right. We also say 'he'll have his head handed to him on a silver platter.' In any case, I appreciate your vote of confidence."

He gave her his uncertain look again and a sheepish smile. "Forgive me?"

She laughed. "I just meant that I am grateful you think I'll win."

He nodded. "Ah, I see. Yes, well, Grimnar may be a tough man and he may fight well, but you are the more experienced when it comes to battling opponents. Besides, I've seen you fight. It may have been with...what do you call that weapon you use?"

"A bow."

"Yes, you may have fought with a bow, but much of what I saw in its workings are not much different than fighting close." he said. "Always, you must judge distance and accuracy. It takes focus and speed, as well as reflex to fight."

Jaelyn nodded her agreement and tilted her head a bit in curiosity. "I thought your people didn't know how to fight."

"We know something of it, otherwise we would not be here. But what we know isn't enough to combat the drow."

"And you think I'll win?"

"Without a doubt, but don't tell Grimnar that. He'll skin me alive." he replied with a laugh.

"It'll be our secret." she said.

"I have never shared a secret with a woman whose name I do not know." he went on, smoothly, leaning back against the shelter wall and giving her a sly look.

"I thought my name would've been known across the village by now."

"Oh, no. No one in the village knows your name. Some simply call you the 'good drow'."

"Oh, well, I'm Jaelyn."

The man smiled pleasantly. His eyes seemed to reflect that pleasantness, for they sparkled.

"Jaelyn." he echoed, letting her name roll off his tongue as if it had a nice taste to it. "Lovely...just like you."

Her skin darkened with a blush.

"Well, that's a first." she said after a moment of being embarrassed.

"What is first?" He had that uncertain look again.

"It's a saying. It means that what you just said was something that has never been said to me before."

He tilted his head to one side and gave her a look of true puzzlement.

"Why not? Do people not tell the truth where you come from?"

"Well, some do. It's just that where I come from, my kind isn't exactly liked...or tolerated."

"Your home doesn't sound very pleasant."

"It isn't. Believe me. But...is it any different from here?"

His brows furrowed. "What do you mean?"

"I see the looks." she went on, solemnly. "The hatred. Admittedly, it isn't everyone, but it's hard to miss the ones that are doing it."

"My people have never faced anything like those drow. They've been a plague on us for a few island lives now. Only now have they come in full force. And we have no idea why. There are rumors of a greater army, but nothing of their reasons for harming us. My people are frightened that they will come again one day and kill us all. And now, one of them walks among us. You must understand."

She shook her head. "I can't. I've tried to all my life, but I just can't. I am not one of them. Why can no one look beyond my appearance, beyond the color of my skin, beyond my heritage?"

"There will always be some who will refuse to look beyond it. Perhaps you should not worry about them and pay more attention to the ones that do."

Jaelyn looked up at him and gave a small inclination of her head. "I can try."

"Do, Jaelyn." he corrected. "No one has ever gotten very far with a 'try' view. Think 'do' and you will do."

"You're wise for one so young." she replied. "How do you know so much?"

He grinned. "I do not try, I do. My father is also the Prophet of our people, a very wise man. He is the oldest among us and has named seven leaders."

"How old is he?"

"A hundred and fifty island lives." he replied with a proud smirk. "But quite young at heart, is my father."

Jaelyn stared at him in shock. "A hundred and fifty years old? Most humans don't live past eighty. He's lived through several generations!"

"Yes, most people believe he should have been named the leader long ago, but at the chance, he turned away to serve as Prophet."

"What does he do exactly?"

"Well, he speaks to the island and the island grants him visions of the future. We all speak to the island to a degree, but father can hear it much more clearly." he replied. "There are only certain times we can do this, however. We cannot speak to the island when it is moving; that was how we did not know of the drow coming. However, days before, my father received a vision of a boat nearing the island and three people getting off of it and onto a smaller boat to reach the shore. One of the people was a child. You and your male companion make that three. Do you have many children from him? Or is it just the one?"

Jaelyn nearly choked on the very idea.

"Oh, no!" she said, holding her hands up and shaking her head. "You've got that all wrong. He's not...I mean, well, he isn't...it's not like that. Besides, the small person that was with us is not a child. He's a halfling."

"Half...ling?" he replied uncertainly.

"Yes, they are a race of small people from where I'm from. He was captured by the drow before we could reach your village."

"Oh...forgive me."

Jaelyn nodded. "We're going to get him back, though. We have to."

For the first time, the man looked grim. Jaelyn didn't like the look on him; it was more suited for someone like Bishop, who was grim at heart.

"Many of my people taken by the drow have not returned." he muttered and then rose his head quickly, giving it a hard shake. "Forgive me. I should not have said that. I was being-"

Jaelyn held up a hand. "It's all right. I have wondered about his...mortality myself. Gulaonar says as long as he remains useful to the drow, he will live. So...you said your father cannot receive visions from the island when it's moving? Does the island move a lot?"

The guard nodded. "It is called a Life Journey. For every island life cycle, there is a Life Journey."

"Why?"

He shrugged. "The same reasons why we breathe; to live, to survive, to simply be. It is only natural."

"So, the island has to take the Life Journey to...live?"

He nodded. "As it has always been and will always be."

Jaelyn 'hmm'ed. "Weird. So, your people think this island really is alive, then?"

"Isn't it?"

"I was under the impression that land wasn't alive, at least not in any sentient manner."

The man frowned, not understanding. "Sentient?"

"Well, yeah, like you and me, how we're alive."

He shook his head. "It is as much alive as you and I."

"Well, I suppose it has to at least be animate if it can move, but I'm not convinced it's sentient."

She shook her head on the matter, considering it closed. Thinking about it too much made her head hurt in any case. Land as a living, breathing, thinking thing? Ridiculous.

"You never told me your name." Jaelyn said to the man, conversationally. "I think it's only fair, since I told you mine."

He smiled humorously. "I am called Akereth, elder son of Akore."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Akereth."

"And you, Jaelyn."

They stood there for a moment in silence, then Akereth cleared his throat again in a nervous manner.

"The man you mentioned before, your companion, he is not...er...the both of you are not mated?"

Jaelyn's eyes widened. "Mated?"

"Yes...er, he is not your life partner? Forgive me if the question is too private."

"No, it's not too private, and no, he's definitely not my life partner. Just kind of a friend."

"And will he be your mate in the future?"

Jaelyn gave her head a negative shake. "Absolutely not. I wouldn't 'mate' with him if he were the last male on Toril."

The man grinned. "If you feel this way toward him, why is he with you?"

She shrugged. "It's one of those things...you know, you pick something up and you can't get rid of it. He's like one of those plant barbs that get stuck inside your clothing and you can never get them out again unless you cut it off. One of those things."

Akereth didn't seem to get it, but he continued smiling at her, liking the way she talked.

"Well, in any case, I never wanted him along. My friend Quin, the one captured by the drow, he was the one that wanted him along."

She shut up, because she realized she was blabbing under his intense stare, which was making a little tingle of excitement run down her spine and kindle in her belly where it heated up. It was a similar sensation to that which she'd felt upon finding the ranger staring at her in a lascivious manner. It was suddenly hot under her clothes, but then she realized she was hardly wearing any.

"Well, since you are not claimed by another, would you...er...consider me..." the rest of Akereth's words trailed off into his native tongue, which was completely lost on Jaelyn.

She looked back at him with a small smile, trying to keep from laughing, even if he was on the verge of it himself.

He scratched the back of his head. "Forgive me. I, er, lapse into my natural language when I am nervous."

"Why am I making you nervous?"

"Well...I've never, er, asked a woman to dance with me before."

Jaelyn grinned at him trying to ask her out. It was a first for her as well; a first at being asked out to do anything.

"And you're asking me? Where would we dance?"

"At the ceremony, of course. There is always dancing afterward; dancing and feasting."

"Are you sure you wouldn't mind being seen around the village dancing with me?" she asked to be certain.

His warm expression reassured her. "If anything, Jaelyn, I would consider it an honor."

"Well, I must warn you. I can't dance."

He grinned. "Neither can I. But I like the idea of us making fools of ourselves together."

They shared a laugh, which was promptly broken by the other guard returning to his post with a satisfied look on his face.

"Lord Olland granted the challenge to be a part of the ceremony." the large man said, his chest puffed out, making Jaelyn wish she had a pin handy so she could deflate his ego. "An hour after sundown, we will face one another in battle."

Jaelyn nodded curtly. "I look forward to it. Now, can I go in?"

"No. Lord Olland will see no one before the ceremony." he replied in a stern tone. "He will speak with you on the morrow."

Jaelyn sighed. "Fine. I guess it can wait."

She turned and left, Akereth smiling happily as he watched her go.

His large comrade eyed him with disapproval and in the native tongue he asked "What are you smiling about, Akereth, idiot son of Akore?"

The smaller man folded his arms and sighed. "I have found her at last."

**xxxxxxxxxx**

She was in trouble, that much she knew.

She should have never challenged that guard; she should have gone with cowardice and run away. Her new-found moxie had gotten her into deep water and now she was roaming the village, looking for the last person she wanted to ask a favor of.

Jaelyn cursed herself for her stupidity until she found him on the outskirts of the village, laying back in the grass under a large(and friendly) shade tree, eating an apple.

"There you are." she announced. "I've been looking all over for you."

Bishop looked up at her while picking a piece of apple out of his teeth with the point of his dagger. His expression was the type you found on someone who has just been rudely interrupted during some very important business.

"So you found me. What do you want?" he demanded irritably.

She ignored the tone. "That's bad for digestion, you know."

He gave her a strange look. "What?"

"Eating on your back."

"What do you want?" he repeated, his tone hard and meaning business.

It figured. The moment he found a peaceful place to relax in the shade, she had to come and ruin it.

"Uh..." she began nervously, digging the toe of her boot into the dirt. "Uh...I think I may have gotten myself into trouble."

"So?"

She looked off into the forest-anywhere was better than looking at him right now-as he pulled himself up and leaned back against the tree trunk.

"I need your..." she gulped. "Help."

The ranger rose a brow, staring at her for one long moment and then he shrugged, coldly. "Whatever it is, it's not my problem."

Jaelyn sighed heavily in frustration as she knelt in the grass next to him.

"Come on," she said, careful to keep the desperation out of her voice. "How many times have I helped you?"

"I never asked you to."

"No, but I still did it."

"Not my problem."

Jaelyn grit her teeth and then hung her head. Bishop watched her closely, noted the desperation she was trying to hide behind frustration.

Ah, so the little drow needed him for something, did she? Well, he might help her...for a price.

"What is it you've gotten yourself into this time?" he inquired, casually.

She looked up at him in surprise. "I thought it wasn't your problem?"

Bishop paused in the midst of biting into his apple and gave her a stern, impatient look. "Forget it. You just ruined your chance."

He moved to stand up, but Jaelyn latched onto his belt and held him down, her face now showing much of her desperation.

"All right, all right." she said hastily and he settled back, smirking.

Frowning at the bastard, Jaelyn told him what had happened not long ago with that brute of a guard at Olland's shelter. When she was finished, he laughed at her in amusement, making the frown on her face deepen.

"It's not funny." she said firmly. "I was only taking your advice to stand up for myself."

"I didn't tell you to initiate fights with men several times your size." he replied. "I would've thought you'd know which fights to avoid, but apparently you don't. Are you sure you're a trained ranger?"

Jaelyn deflated, holding her face in her hands with a groan.

"This is no time for wise cracks. I'm in a terrible spot, damn it. Are you going to help me or not?"

"Depends."

She looked up, hopefully. "On what?"

The wickedly seductive look on his face knocked hope right out of the proverbial ballpark and into space.

"On how you plan to pay me back."

"Pay you back?" Jaelyn demanded. "I shouldn't have to owe you anything after all the times I've helped you."

"Oh, really? And I didn't help you when those drow put two bolts in your back? That made us even, drow. Now you're asking a favor of me, so yeah, you're going to owe me."

She sighed. "Can't you just do it out of the kindness of your heart?"

Who in the Nine damn Hells was she talking to?

Bishop laughed sinisterly. "What heart?"

"Oh, right, I forgot. Well, what's your price, then?"

She knew she shouldn't have asked. She shouldn't have even gone to him.

His eyes looked her up and down in a very predatory manner that made her skin crawl. She'd seen looks like that in nature a lot. Usually it was the expression on a wolf's face just before it pounced on its unsuspecting prey.

"Steep." he finally said, cryptically.

Jaelyn frowned. "What in the hells does that mean?"

"You'll find out soon enough."

Jaelyn groaned. "That's not fair! You're the only person I have to go to for help. Gods, why do you have to be such a dick?"

He laughed. "Relax, drow. You don't even know my price, yet."

"That's the problem! With you, it could be anything, though more than likely it's going to be something bad."

Bishop smirked. "Maybe you do know me better than I give you credit for. Still, who's to say you won't like it?"

"I highly doubt it." she huffed.

"You didn't seem to mind it too much last night."

Jaelyn flushed deeply and looked away. She could feel the heat of her embarrassment traveling all the way into her boots.

"Uh...I did too mind it!" she replied defensively.

"Oh, yeah? You've got a strange way of showing it, kissing me back like that."

She sputtered for a response. "Yeah, well...uh...I also told you to get out."

He smirked in a very smug and annoying manner. "Yeah, but we both know why you did that."

"We do not!" she replied angrily and then shook her head. "I mean, you don't."

"Sure, I do. Your cowardice runs pretty deep."

Jaelyn glared at him. "Look who's talking."

"Think I'm afraid? If that were true, I wouldn't have initiated it in the first place."

"Oh, you can kiss and screw just fine, I'm sure." she spat. "You're just too damn afraid to feel anything while you're doing it."

"Don't confuse choosing to feel something with incapable of feeling something." he shot back, getting angry. "That's a good way to find yourself disappointed, especially around me."

She smiled in a smart manner. "You can easily point out the cowardice of others, but you're such a coward that you can't even face your own cowardice. You refuse to believe it's even there. That's the purpose of all your walls, right? Too damn afraid of letting someone in, too damn afraid to feel anything, and too damn afraid to face the truth. Here's an idea, Bishop, why don't you heed your own advice for once? You need it more than I do."

He leaned forward, a look of deep anger on his face as he glared into her eyes.

"Go to the hells, you bitch." he bristled. "You don't know a fucking thing about-"

"Oh, save it." she snipped his words off, seething. "That's always your godsdamned excuse, but you said so yourself, didn't you? I know you better than you give me credit for. Besides, if I couldn't see right through you, then there would be no need for you to get all angry and defensive about what I say, right?"

She had no clue of the dangerous ground she walked on, nor of the anger she was building in him with mere words. But no, it went deeper than words, didn't it? That's what was really bothering him. It went deep down to the truth, to the heart of the matter. She tread on that dangerous ground on purpose because more often than not, she could see right through him and she wasn't afraid of him.

The drow was staring at him, waiting for a reply. Her face was calm and serious, but he saw the smug gleam in her eyes. And it only made him all the more angry, but it wasn't just because of that look. He had no idea what to say back; he had no idea how to react. That was a first.

So, like the wolf she'd seen in his predatory look, he pounced on his prey without warning, knocking her backward into the grass and pinning her down.

Jaelyn wiggled under him and fought madly against his iron hold. He leaned down close, smiling while he pressed her arms firmly into the ground.

Her eyes glared like green fire, and oh, how he loved her anger. It fed his desire.

"Let me go." she said through her teeth.

"Why? You know you want it."

"You disgust me!" she shouted at him, twisting her body around.

He moved so that his knees were at either side of her thighs, trapping her body so she couldn't move about.

"Do I?" he replied mockingly. "Then why'd you kiss me back?"

Jaelyn suddenly grew still, surprising him.

Her green eyes connected with his golden ones. "Why did you kiss me in the first place?"

Bishop laughed hard. She could feel it against her, could feel it rumbling up out of his chest, which was pressed close to hers.

"Avoiding the question with a question." he said. "I think I have my answer."

"And you're avoiding it, too." she shot back. "So, I have mine as well."

"You'd be wrong, then."

"I would? Then why don't you give me the right answer?"

"Why won't you give me yours?"

Jaelyn laughed. She simply couldn't help it. They could go back and forth like this forever. They were both equally as stubborn and unwilling to let the other win, or to openly admit the truth. They both desired one another. Whether it was a desire to know what lay beyond the stone walls, or a desire to conquer what no man had yet been able to conquer, the desire was there.

"What is your interest in me?" she asked him seriously when the laughter subsided.

He shrugged. "What every man's interest in a woman is."

"Not every man is like you, Bishop."

He smirked. "I won't deny the truth in that."

And he leaned down further, meaning to prove it, but the tables turned.

Jaelyn somehow got her knee up and perfectly positioned between his legs. She threw all her body weight to one side, using her knee in his groin for leverage so she could roll him over. Jaelyn straddled him with one hand wrapped around his throat as she glared down at him.

She was aware of his hands on her hips, one of which was questing down to her backside. She slapped it away with her free hand.

"That wasn't a compliment." she said and then quickly rolled away from him, getting to her feet.

Bishop sat up on his elbows as she walked away.

"I thought you needed my help, drow." he called after her, smirking.

She paused in her stride and looked over her shoulder, her beaded braids clicking together. That white hair spilled straight down her back like a waterfall but the thick bangs still covered the left side of her face. He liked it better when it was a mess, when it looked like she'd just gotten out of bed.

"I did." she replied. "But you made me realize it's not worth the trouble."

She turned back, leaving him with the image of her departing, swaying figure.

He tried not to imagine the things he wanted to do to it, but it wasn't easy. He really needed to get laid.

Bishop fell back into the grass with a groan.


	15. Chapter 15: Warrior

**xxxxxx**

* * *

**Chapter Fifteen:**

**Warrior**

**xxxxxx**

**At** sundown, Jaelyn peered out of the threshold of her shelter to see that most of the village was already in the midst of 'partying'. There was general intoxication and revelry going on. The bonfire in the midst of the village center was already roaring and a group of men were thronged around it, arms linked as they sang in their language as loud as their larynx would allow. It was obvious by their volume and by their lifted heads that they wanted the whole world to hear them, and no doubt the whole world probably could. Jaelyn wouldn't have been surprised if the gods and goddesses could hear them. Three women sat near the bonfire as well, accompanying the singing men by playing a variety of instruments. One woman was playing some kind of long pipe, another was banging out a rhythm on a set of large drums and the last was strumming a stringed instrument. It wasn't bad music, but Jaelyn had heard better. On the northern end of the village near the large cliff that loomed over Olland's shelter and the ones around it, there was a ring-shaped wooden fence and it was here Jaelyn knew that she would battle that brute of a guard to earn her right to be called a warrior among the natives.

She had yet to see Gulaonar anywhere. In fact, she hadn't seen him since they had left the council meeting earlier. She supposed he was patrolling the forest around the village, for now would be the perfect time for a drow attack. Bishop had gone off with a group of natives for the ceremonial hunt. One female native, the mother of one of the young men in the hunting party, had explained to her that it was a tradition for all the eldest sons of the hunting families to participate in the ceremonial hunt and that usually no one outside those families was allowed to join them. So, it was a gesture of respect when they had asked Bishop along. Jaelyn wondered why he would've even agreed to go. Knowing him, he was probably bored stiff and couldn't find anything to entertain himself with. Certainly, he wouldn't have been honored by the gesture. She had a feeling he had no idea what honor was.

The drow couldn't deny that she was a little nervous. The thousands of butterflies flitting in a mad panic inside her stomach was a dead giveaway.

Jaelyn had never been invited to a gathering before, let alone one in her honor. The idea of being around so many people was a bit alarming. The biggest crowd she'd ever been in was the council meeting earlier and not even half the village had gone to that. The entire village would be there for the ceremony, however, when she would be tattooed with the tribal motif of the warrior. Whether she won the fight with Grimnar or not, she was still going to be tattooed. It had been declared by Olland and she had not refused. It was the principal of the thing, really. Her honor as a warrior had been insulted and now she had to defend it.

Jaelyn sighed as she watched the men near the bonfire make drunken idiots of themselves. They were still singing, but now they were all swaying and forgetting the lyrics. She had no idea what they were intoxicated on, but they had small, clay jugs in their hands and there was a lot of smoke in the air that had a strange green tint to it. It also had a weird scent that made the head feel funny.

Some children were nearby at the shelter across from Jaelyn's, playing in the dirt and looking bored while the grown-ups had all the fun.

Jaelyn came out of her shelter and approached them slowly so as not to startle them. She had no idea how they would react to her presence, given the fact that her kind was responsible for terrorizing the village and killing their people.

To her surprise, the children didn't run away, screaming. They did, however, look up at her with wary expressions and shifted with unease.

The drow knelt in front of them and smiled.

"Hello." she spoke in drow, wondering if they would be able to understand her.

At first, the group of children, which consisted of three boys and two girls, merely stared at her, but then one of the boys grinned. He was cute with a mischievous glint in his blue eyes and a smile that nearly took up his entire face. He was familiar somehow, but she couldn't put her finger on it.

"Hello." he replied in drow. "I am Akar, son of Akore. What is your name?"

"Did you say 'son of Akore'?" she replied instantly. So, that's why he looked so familiar. "I met your brother Akereth earlier."

The boy nodded and then said with as much pride as a little brother could muster "Yes, he is one of Lord Olland's top warriors! Father is very proud of him. So am I!"

"And as well you should be." Jaelyn replied with a smile. "You're brother is a very nice man."

The boy's smile turned sly. "Akereth talks about you."

She blinked in surprise. "He...does?"

"Yes, he says you are not like all the other drow on the island. He says you are here to stop them." Akar looked at her closely with all his child-like curiosity. "Are you really here to stop them?"

She nodded. "I will do what I can to stop them."

"But...why are you not like them when you look like them?"

She wished she had an answer to that, an easy one.

"Just because we look like something doesn't mean we have to act like it." she said as gently as possible. "I am only half-drow. I don't believe as the drow here do. I don't wish to harm anyone. I don't really want to have to hurt the drow, either, but they're not really leaving me a choice."

Akar leaned over and patted her hand to the surprise of his fellow adolescents. "They deserve it. They are mean and do not care about anything but hurting us. I am glad you are not like them."

Jaelyn smiled. "That makes two of us. So, what're you children doing over here? Shouldn't you be enjoying the celebration as well?"

Akar shook his head. "We are not allowed. We are too young to join in, so we just sit here and play."

"Well, that's no fun, is it?" Jaelyn replied and then sat down in the dirt with them.

She looked around for something to entertain the children with and spotted a soapy, wooden tub nearby, which called up a brief childhood memory of her being in a similar tub, having a bath and playing with the bubbles. By child curiosity and experience, she'd learned how to blow bubbles with her hands and she remembered how much she'd enjoyed her baths after she'd learned that. Perhaps these children might enjoy it as well.

She stood up and went to the tub, kneeling next to it. She then beckoned the children to come over.

"I'll show you something I learned to do from when I was a child." she said and then dipped her hands into the soapy water.

The children watched with great enthusiasm.

Jaelyn found the bar of soap at the bottom of the tub and began rubbing her hands with it until she had a rich lather going. She then cupped her hands together and slowly drew her palms apart while still keeping her fingers pressed together. Her hands made a little cave and an opalescent sheet of soap film coated one side of it. She blew gently into the little cave and the film expanded into a soap bubble that clung to her hands. She grinned at the awed expressions of the children's faces. They gathered closer and began pleading in unison for her to teach them how to do that.

Ten minutes later, the children were laughing and sticking their hands into the tub and blowing into their cupped hands while dozens upon dozens of bubbles floated around them.

"I knew I was right about you." said a deep voice in drow.

Jaelyn looked up and smiled at Akereth, who returned the sentiment.

Akar ran up to his elder and only brother, speaking hastily and excitedly in the native language. Apparently, he wanted to show his older brother what he could do. He blew a large bubble from his hands and Akereth laughed as he stuck a finger out and popped it. Akar swatted him for it and then went off to join his friends.

Akereth turned his attention back to Jaelyn as he moved over to join her and taking a seat in the dirt next to her.

"You know, they're usually upset when a celebration is planned for the village. They aren't allowed to join in, mostly because there's a lot of drunkenness and smoking of the ceremonial pipes. We don't want our children exposed to those things until they can understand why we do them. But...it seems you have done an excellent job of cheering them up."

"Well, I saw them looking bored, so I thought I'd show them a trick I learned when I was a child. I used to hate getting baths, so I learned to blow bubbles and it made it more fun." she said and had no idea why she was sharing childhood memories with a perfect stranger.

He smiled. "I bet you were a handful for your parents."

She shrugged. "I never knew my parents. I was...abandoned as an infant. I don't know who my father was, and my mother tried to drown me the day I was born."

Akereth started, his face a mask of horror. "But...why? Why would someone..."

"I don't know." she replied softly. She sensed his unease; she wouldn't have blamed him if he just got up and walked away. "I suppose it's because of what I am; she didn't want a child with the blood of a drow. Gulaonar said if that was true, she never would've carried me in the first place."

"He makes a wise point. I...don't know the customs of your people, but my people have ways of terminating unwanted pregnancies. I find it a horrid practice, but some of the women think it's necessary."

"I don't know what to think about it at all. And I hope I'm never in a position to find out."

Akereth only nodded on the subject. "Let us speak of other matters, shall we?"

"I was hoping you'd say that."

"Are you prepared for your fight with Grimnar?"

Jaelyn laughed. "I started out ready when I challenged him, but...now I'm not so sure."

"Have confidence in yourself." Akereth replied. "The only thing Grimnar has on his side is size and strength. You have much more."

"I do?" She was givng him a dubious look.

"Yes, you have speed and quick reflexes, but most of all you have experience. Use those things to your advantage."

She was about to ask how when another native interrupted them.

Akereth and the other man exchanged a few words in their tongue and then he got to his feet, extending a hand to her.

"Come. It's time."

Jaelyn cringed. "Already?"

"I believe in you."

Jaelyn was shocked by his words. He had said them so quickly, without any hesitation whatsoever. She'd never had anyone outside of the dragon clan believe in her before. To hear someone say it, completely disregarding her heritage...well, it gave her courage.

She smiled at him, nodded and slid her hand into his so he could help her up. There was something in his touch that sent a tingle throughout her body and by the look on his face, he had felt it as well. They stood there for a moment that seemed like centuries to them, staring at one another. For that moment, Jaelyn swore the world stopped working. Akereth broke the spell by looking away.

"Let's go."

There was already a large assembly of natives standing around the ring fence, waiting in anticipation to the fight that was about to proceed. Some of them were drunk, some were smoking on pipes or drinking from their clay jugs.

Standing in the midst of the ring was the brute Grimnar. He looked unruffled, stern and determined, his large arms folded against his even larger chest. Jaelyn's eyes were drawn to the bulging muscles in his arms, and the protruding veins that seemed to fight for territory against the hard, imposing sinew. He also had a jaw you could shape a diamond on and thick, sturdy legs that could probably muster the strength to kick a boulder around like a ball.

Funny, she hadn't remembered noticing these things about him while she was challenging him.

"Oh, gods...um, I think I hear my mother calling me." she muttered and started to turn around in the opposite direction.

Akereth laughed and caught her by the elbow.

"Jaelyn."

She liked it when he said her name. There was just a nice lilt to it and it was pleasant to hear someone actually call her by her name for once and not 'drow' or 'girl' or 'dark elf' or 'Jae' or the loads of other sub-names and insults she'd gotten used to.

"You can do this."

She looked at him, her mouth lowered into half of a frown. "I can?"

"Have confidence in yourself. Let your warrior soul guide you."

"Warrior soul?"

He shrugged. "Yes. I saw it during the attack on the village. If there is anything you must prove to Grimnar this day, it's that. Show him you are the warrior."

"But-"

With a solemn shake of his head, he silenced her.

"Do, Jaelyn."

She sighed and looked back at her opponent, whose gaze was set firmly on her and there was also a smug smirk on his face, as if he knew she was regretting this.

The drow's jaw set and she stuck her chin out. "All right. All right, I'm ready...I think."

"Go into the ring." Akereth told her. "Face your opponent."

Jaelyn strode confidently into the ring and stood before Grimnar, who towered over her like a giant. He might as well have been one. He had to be two feet taller than her and a good deal wider. She wasn't going to focus on this, however. She needed to focus on his weaknesses and how to exploit them every chance she got, that was if something as big as him had a weakness.

"You will be unmasked as the impostor you are!" Grimnar cried in drow. "You are no warrior; you are one of them!"

The onlookers murmured to each other at the claim, staring at Jaelyn shrewdly.

Jaelyn didn't approve of the implication in Grimnar's 'them'.

"I am not one of 'them' and I am going to prove it by teaching you a lesson!" she shot back, angrily. "So, come on, let's get on with it."

The crowd suddenly parted to allow their leader through.

Olland stepped into the ring and looked between the opponents with a broad smile.

"It has been a while since we last had a contest of fighting prowess between warriors." he said, speaking drow.

Grimnar sniffed indignantly. Olland eyed him, but made no comment.

"It is true our peoples each have a different idea of what a warrior is." Olland continued. "We are not violent people. We knew nothing of true battle until the drow arrived. I ask that you both fight with honor and that you both learn from one another. These challenges are not for the sake of spilling the blood of another. They are made to prove oneself; they are made to prove ones honor in a fight, but mostly, they are made to teach something to the opponents. I understand that the challenger is...Jaelyn. Correct?"

Jaelyn looked at the leader in surprise at him using her name instead of calling her 'drow'.

She inclined her head. "That's correct."

"Why do you challenge Grimnar, son of Grimmar?"

"He insulted me." she replied with anger. "He claimed I was no warrior, that I don't deserve the mark or the title."

Olland faced Grimnar. "Is this true?"

"Damn right, it is!" the large man barked and then quickly recovered from his eagerness to remember who he was talking to. "I mean, yes, Lord Olland, it's true, and I mean to prove it in this ring!"

Olland nodded. "Then so be it. The fight will be clean. There is to be no honorless fighting, no hitting below the waist, no tricks or weapons. If any such moves are performed, the fight will cease and the offender will be cast out. There is to be no death blows. The death on an opponent will be treated as murder and the offender will be sentenced to death where he or she stands. The one to get their opponent to yield first will be the victor. Are the rules understood?"

With nods from both opponents, Olland rose his hands into the air for silence. The crowd quieted automatically.

"Let the fight commence!" he announced.

He strode out of the ring and stood nearby to serve as referee of the fight and to announce the winner when it was over.

The two contenders circled each other, sizing each other up. Grimnar sneered at her as he got into his fighting position, his thick fists out. Jaelyn stared at them and tried not to blanch. They could easily punch a hole in a stone wall; this man could snap her like a twig without much effort at all. Just great. What had she gotten herself into?

"Your filthy kind murdered my wife!" he snarled.

His face reddened with rage. That wasn't good. Then again, enormous, incensed men with fists the size of cantaloupes were never good a thing.

"I am not-" but before she could finish defending herself with words, the brute let out a startling roar and charged at her.

Jaelyn tried to stifle her squeak of panic, but it came out nonetheless.

One giant fist cocked back and flew at her. Jaelyn ducked. The fist sailed above her head, making a whooshing noise as it cut the air. She whirled away before he could strike out at her again.

She had no idea how to fight this man. He was too big. One hit from him and she'd be down and out. And hitting him back wasn't going to do her much good, either; she couldn't muster the strength to damage him any, let alone get him off his feet. This looked to be a losing battle.

She dodged another fist, which had been aimed for her chest. No doubt that one would've collapsed her chest cavity if it had struck home...or maybe a lung or two, and perhaps some other vital organs.

Jaelyn countered this time, her quick-moving fist striking into his muscular stomach and not doing a bit of good in damaging it.

Grimnar laughed and it was the type of laugh you hear in a school cafeteria when the nerdy kid trips over his own feet and lands in his lunch.

He reached out and snatched her up by her shoulders, his crushing hands tightening on her as he lifted her off the ground.

And just before he could body slam her, Jaelyn was able to get her feet up into his stomach. She wondered briefly if she would be disqualified for her next move and then decided that she really didn't have a choice. She wasn't about to let this beast throw her to the ground. There was a good chance she'd have to climb out of a hole afterward and that was only if she lived through it.

She kicked off of him, did a backward flip and landed awkwardly, swaying on her heels. Her arms pin-wheeled in an effort to keep her balance. The native brute was staring at her in surprise and Jaelyn grinned.

"I could have been an acrobat," she said in drow. "But I chose to be a ranger instead."

Grimnar's face twisted into a look of confusion and she exploited his moment of distraction. The drow flew at him and issued a combination of punches. Each one struck home, but he hardly budged under the onslaught. He countered and this time Jaelyn's reflexes weren't fast enough to avoid the hit. That was the danger of using combination and her stupidity for trying to oust him in one move.

The fist struck along her cheek and knocked her back off her feet. She lay there in the dirt, trying to blink away the bright little spots on her vision and trying to ignore the exploding pain.

_Stupid, stupid, stupid!_ she inwardly berated herself. _Never try to end a large opponent in one move. It never works!_

"Urrrgg..." she moaned, holding her head as she got to her feet, which felt as if it had a pulse of its own.

The brute was coming for her.

"Yield!" he cried, angrily.

"Sorry. Can't do that."

She tried to scramble away from him, but he caught her arm and swung her around to him. One of his enormous hands grabbed her by the throat and lifted her slightly off the ground before slamming her back into it.

The force knocked her breath clear out of her lungs and she lay there, unable to breathe. Darkness threatened to close in on her and she struggled to fight it off. Her hands curled into defiant fists as she tried desperately to draw air. Her chest was hurting, her lungs were burning and her throat was tight.

The crowd was cheering and hollering, but their voices were growing dim as the black closed in.

_No, can't black out. Must win...must prove self...come on!_

She forced away the pain and focused on trying to draw her breath. The air finally came back into her in one great gasp, which filled her lungs with the precious necessity of life.

Jaelyn lay there for a moment, breathing heavily and closing her eyes against the stars on her vision. She could hear Grimnar laughing a few feet away, could hear his hard steps in the dirt as he circled her, waiting for her to yield or continue.

But another voice cut through the din.

"Get up."

Jaelyn opened her eyes and blinked in a daze. Slowly, because it hurt to move her head, she turned her face to find the ranger standing over her on the opposite side of the fence, a grim, stern look on his visage.

"Get up or you're through."

She had half the mind(okay, really, she only had one-fourth the mind because only half of it was truly working right now) to ask him what in the hells he cared, but decided it was probably better to do what he said. If she didn't get up soon, they were going to call it yielding.

Jaelyn grabbed the fence posts as she hauled herself up and swayed a bit. Her head was throbbing. She put a hand to her forehead, trying to fight off a head rush.

"I think I've bitten off more than I can chew here." she muttered.

"There's a way out of this." Bishop said, casually.

Jaelyn pulled her hand away and looked at him, skeptically. "Yeah, sure. It's just a shame that I happen to be a little attached to life at the moment."

He frowned. Why did he even bother?

"That's fine." he snapped. "Don't listen to me. You're going to regret it."

He turned away, but Jaelyn grabbed his hand.

"All right." she said, hastily. She wasn't looking at very many choices here. If he could help, she was willing to listen, despite her suspicions. "If you can help me beat him, I'm listening. Tell me what to do."

He looked at her for a moment, that stern look replaced by a cold one, and then he glanced over at the big man.

"I would've thought it would be obvious to you, drow." he said, bitingly. "Your half his size; less than half, actually. That's an advantage over him. He's carrying a lot more weight around, which means he's using more stamina. He may be stronger, but you're faster. Don't fight back."

"But-"

That stern look returned.

"Think, Jaelyn." he said, not bothering to hide his irritation with her and yet surprising her with his rare use of her name. "You're not going to hurt him. Any attack you make on him will be useless. Draw him in to attack you, but stay out of his reach. Eventually, he's going to get tired and frustrated. That's when you go in for the kill."

Jaelyn blinked. Well, that certainly made a lot of sense. Why hadn't she realized that before? Ah, well. Now she knew what to do.

She moved, but he wasn't finished yet.

"Oh, and if I were you, drow, I'd make sure I don't get hit. You don't look like you could handle another one."

He was smirking.

Jaelyn nodded, touching her head. "I hate to agree...but it's kind of hard not to when it feels like your brains are hanging out of your skull. Oh...and uh..." she smiled. "Thanks."

He watched her stride off to continue the fight. He allowed that smirk on his face to transition into a faint smile, knowing she'd never see it.

From the other side of the ring, Akereth watched Bishop and frowned. He found it odd that such a small smile could say so much, especially for someone who was hardly expressive, at least from what he could tell when he saw the man around the village.

Jaelyn faced her opponent once more, now with a strategy that might work in her favor. She tried not to wonder what the ranger's intentions were, his reasons for helping her. It was useless thinking about it; she never understood why he did anything.

"You do not yield?" Grimnar said in drow, truly surprised. "You are a fool."

"No, I don't give up." she shot back. "A warrior never gives up."

He sneered at her. "Come, then, 'warrior', let us finish this!"

He barreled on her and she dodged him.

The strategy worked. She let Grimnar do the attacking and she eluded him as much as possible. She only took a few hits, one to her shoulder that had been meant for her head and another in the ribs. She drew him in to attack as well, coming constantly within his attack range and then dancing away at the last moment to elude his blows. And as the ranger said, he began to get tired. His breathing became labored, he was sweating a lot and looked very frustrated. He was hardly standing.

Jaelyn took advantage of his weakness without hesitation.

Grimnar came at her once more with an off-balanced punch and she blocked his arm and sent her fist into his stomach. The large man reflexively hunched over with an 'oof' sound and Jaelyn let out a cry of victory as she sent her knee into his face.

Grimnar fell back into the dirt with a hard thud, unmoving but alive.

The crowd grew silent, the faces of the natives staring down at their fallen brother in surprise and shock.

Olland strode into the center of the ring, smirking at the recumbent form of Grimnar. He then turned his gaze to Jaelyn.

"You have proven yourself well, Jaelyn." he said. "You truly are worthy of being called a warrior."

Things might have gone different if it hadn't been for...

Jaelyn glanced around, searching the crowd.

Bishop was gone.

Olland took Jaelyn's hand, bringing her attention around, and rose it up in the universal sign of victory.

To her ultimate surprise, the crowd cheered. She grinned.

**xxxxxxxxxx**

Jaelyn sat before the bonfire, surrounded by a few intoxicated and cheerful natives, who were in the midst of 'singing' an ode to heroism, according to the native woman playing the pipe.

She stared with a great deal of pride at the markings that twined around and up her arm from her wrist. They were sore and so red that the darkness of her skin could not hide the angry marks. The tattoos were done with black ink, or a substance the natives had made that resembled and had the characteristics of ink. They hadn't been pleased with using black because they had a bit of a superstition about it, that it was bad luck because, to them, black was symbolic of something they called the Void, a place of eternal darkness where they believed evil souls were bound after death. To counteract this, the tattooist added pictographs and words indicating good fortune in battle and in life in general. Originally, the tattoo would've only gone up from her wrist to her elbow, but with the added markings, it continued on up to her shoulder and dipped into the curve where her neck met her shoulder.

The procedure was painful, because, as Gulaonar had told her, the tattoos were made with a special ceremonial knife. Some of the markings were done with cuts, but the majority were done with a series of pricks and tiny stabs. After it was finished, the tattooist, also a priest, said a special blessing and then rubbed a salve on the tattoos to keep them from getting infected and also to keep the ink from bleeding. It was also important not to bandage them so the skin could breathe and begin its healing process.

Jaelyn smiled as she gazed at the marks that labeled her a warrior. The tattooist explained as well as he could what each mark meant. They were a detailed reenactment of her deeds during the raid and her challenge and victory over Grimnar. It also told of how many she had killed in order to save the lives of the natives.

She ran her finger gingerly over the native words and pictographs for the number twenty-one. A bit of guilt stabbed into her. She had killed twenty-one of her own people and she had just memorialized the deed permanently on her own skin.

She tried to remember what the ranger had told her, that if she hadn't killed them, they would've killed her. She tried to remind herself of the horrors of that raid, how the drow swept across these unarmed, helpless people without so much as flinching at their own deeds. She even tried telling herself of the many more lives she'd saved by killing the drow, but no matter what she told herself, the guilt didn't go away.

Jaelyn didn't want it to have to come to death and she didn't want to have to kill her own kind. She wanted to save them. From themselves.

"Are you regretting them?" asked a voice from her side in drow.

She looked up into the face of the native leader. Olland tried to offer a smile, but it faltered in mid-curve. He sensed her shift in mood.

The tall man took a seat beside her on the log and they both stared thoughtfully into the bonfire, him patiently waiting for her answer, though he already knew what was wrong. When he was younger, he, too, received the mark of the warrior and he, too, had felt what she was now feeling immediately after he had gotten it. It wasn't the mark that made him regret, it was the deed that had led him to earn it.

Jaelyn sighed. "It's not that I regret it. Far from it, in fact. I am deeply honored. It's just...what I..." She shook her head in frustration. "With all due respect, you wouldn't understand."

He wasn't offended. "I may understand better than you think. Tell me what is on your mind. Do not hold back."

Jaelyn looked over at him and swallowed the lump forming in her throat. "I don't want to have to kill them. I know I'm not like them...but they're still my people, my kind. I just wish there was another way; I just want them to listen."

Olland shook his head. "It is not your job to save them. They make their own decisions, they choose their own path, just as you do."

"You don't understand." she replied. "Their actions are based on their tainted belief that their goddess will grant them power if they kill in her name. They believe in a goddess that would watch them slaughter and sacrifice each other in her name! If I don't at least try to save them, then who else will? They're blinded by their devotion to her...and she will destroy them!"

"Why do you feel it must be up to you to save them?"

"Because I am the only one not blinded by her promises of power. I see her for the demon she truly is." Jaelyn replied. "In the Underdark, they have no choice but to worship her or they are killed or cast out, if they're lucky."

"I know nothing of this...Underdark you speak of. What is it?"

"It is the home of the drow." she explained. "I was lucky enough to have not been born there. The stories I've heard speak of unimaginable horrors. A place of eternal darkness, teeming with terrible, deadly creatures that will stop at nothing to kill its prey. Then there are the drow cities, places that are no better than the wilds of the Underdark. Most of them are ruled by very powerful drow women, Matrons they're called. In most drow cities, the Matrons of the leading noble houses-or top families as you might say-rule and they constantly look for ways of eliminating each other to gain higher rank in drow society. They believe the more powerful they are, the more Lolth, their goddess, will favor them. Maybe this is true; I don't know. I have never been to the Underdark to truly know how Lolth 'blesses' the drow. And I don't ever plan on going, either."

Jaelyn shook her head. "But...these drow here on the island left the Underdark, so they must all be outcasts that were somehow able to survive. Maybe there's hope for them."

Olland studied her for a long moment. and then said "It is a noble thing to want to save your people from this...evil goddess of theirs, but this will involve you swaying them from their beliefs. That will be a feat not easily reached. If they are willing to kill for their goddess, then nothing will turn them away from her. It would be like attempting to sway you from your belief that this goddess is evil."

"But she is!" Jaelyn cried in desperation. "It isn't just a belief, it's fact."

Olland smiled. "Belief and fact are the same. To each individual, their beliefs _are_ fact. You cannot tell someone how they must believe, even if you think it is wrong, no matter how strongly you believe in it. It is not your decision and it is not your right."

Jaelyn's hand clenched into fists. She couldn't accept that.

"So, just let them destroy themselves when I know I can save them?"

"Can you?" Olland inquired. "Can you truly turn them away from her and then give them something else to believe in?"

"I...I can try." she stammered and then winced at her own words.

Olland chuckled. "No, Jaelyn. This is their livelihood you speak of. You cannot try, you must do and you must succeed. Otherwise, you will do more damage than their belief in this Lolth will."

Jaelyn leaned forward, her elbows on her knees and her head in her hands. She sighed miserably.

"Then what do I do then?"

Olland laid a hand on her shoulder. "What must be done. You must make a terrible decision. You must either let them go to destroy themselves or try to rob them of their beliefs and destroy them yourself. Either way, they will be destroyed and you cannot change this."

Jaelyn frowned deeply and banged a fist on her knee.

"There has to be another way!" she said stubbornly.

Olland shook his head with a sigh and then got to his feet. He stared down at her, solemnly.

"Do not dwell on the things you cannot change." he said. "They have made their decision. They made it long ago. Now you must make yours."

He left her there to her thoughts, and she wished he hadn't. Her thoughts were the last thing she wanted to be alone with at the moment. It all seemed so hopeless. Was there no hope for the drow here on the island? Were they truly doomed to destruction? But how was she supposed to just give up and not even try to save them? If it wasn't her job to save them, then whose was it? How do you just give up? A true warrior never gives up. There had to be another way.

Jaelyn got up, deciding a good long walk was in order to clear her head...and nearly ran into Akereth.

He caught her by the shoulders with a small laugh. She offered a light chuckle in return.

"I was just coming to see you." he said, smiling that beautiful smile of his. "You still owe me a dance, you know."

_Oh, crap._

She'd completely forgotten about that; she was really looking forward to that walk, though. Maybe a little company wouldn't hurt though. Then they could have that dance.

"Yes," she agreed. "But...would you accompany me on a little stroll around the village first?"

Akereth inclined his head. "Of course. There...is something I'd like to speak to you about and it would be proper to speak of it in private."

He made a gesture with his hand for her to go first, and then he strolled up beside her as they made their way through the village.

"The tattoo," he said. "It looks well on you."

She smirked and rose her arm to give it a glance. "Yes, it's very...elaborate, isn't it?"

"Don't you like it?"

"Yes! If I was ever to get a tattoo, I'm glad it was something like this." she said. "And it makes it even better knowing that I actually earned it."

Akereth looked at her and shook his head. "You earned it long before you challenged Grimnar."

"How is my ol' pal Grimnar, by the way?"

Akereth smirked. "Well, I think you wounded his pride more than anything else. I have to admit, during the fight, I thought you weren't going to beat him. Things were looking bad when he got you on the ground, but then...your companion showed up out of nowhere. Whatever he said to you, it must've really gotten through."

Jaelyn said nothing. She was still a bit confused by that and why he had even done it. She had a bad feeling that she'd been forced into a debt and the last person she wanted to owe a debt to was Bishop. She knew without a doubt that there was only one type of currency he accepted and she wasn't looking forward to giving that out at the moment...or to him anytime in the near future. Or far ahead into the future...or at all, really.

Akereth cleared his throat in that nervous manner he had.

"Er...that was actually what I wanted to talk to you about."

She looked at him in confusion. "Uh...why?"

"Because I saw something during the fight that I think you should know."

Jaelyn scratched her ear and lifted a brow. "Okay?"

"The both of you...er...you've known each other for a while, yes?"

She made a confused face, having no idea what he was getting at, but decided to play along anyway.

"A little less than a month." she replied.

"And you feel nothing for him?"

She nodded, and ignored the protesting voices stirring up trouble in the back of her head.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, Akereth." she lied and wished he'd just get to the damn point already. "Where are you going with this?

He sighed as if in relief.

"Well, I noticed that during the fight earlier and after you spoke to him...there was a...look of sorts." he finally said. "Er...like a sort of smile."

She didn't get it. Although the idea of Bishop smiling was a little odd.

"And? People smile, you know. I expected he would, too, sooner or later. And him smiling while I'm getting knocked around a bit isn't exactly surprising."

Akereth shook his head. "No, it's a different kind of smile. Um...the kind that speaks words the mouth cannot say, whether they are forcefully held back or because the person cannot explain them...uh..."

He scratched his head nervously.

Jaelyn chuckled. "Akereth, you're only confusing me. What exactly is it that you're trying to say? And don't beat around the bush."

Akereth nodded firmly, though he had no idea what 'beat around the bush' meant. "All right. I believe that he has feelings for you."

Jaelyn stopped in her tracks, staring at Akereth with widened eyes. The native man turned to look at her, a slight frown on his face. He hadn't been hoping for this reaction from her. She looked absolutely shocked.

And then she laughed. She laughed hard in genuine hilarity. She had been shocked at Akereth's ability at making comedy. She hadn't expected joke telling from a native.

"That's a good one, Akereth. I didn't know you islanders had such a good sense of humor."

She joined up with him and gave him a little jab with her elbow. "Come on, let's go."

He didn't move.

"Jaelyn."

She stopped and looked back at him. His face was solemn.

"I am serious."

Jaelyn laughed again. She couldn't help it. The very idea! It truly was humorous. A cold-blooded thing like Bishop having feelings for someone? Come on. That was more ridiculous than the island being a living, sentient being.

"Akereth," she said. "I think you may need a bit more practice in the study of human expressions. That man doesn't feel anything. Okay, no. Maybe that's a little unfair. He may have the strong 'feeling' of putting a knife in my back, but that's as far as 'feeling' goes for him."

"Perhaps you are wrong?"

She shook her head. "Trust me, I'm not. He's too much of a coward to accept things like emotions."

"Then what did I see?"

Jaelyn shrugged. "I don't know. I do know what it wasn't, though. It wasn't 'feelings', unless it was the desire to kill me. Knowing him, he was probably wishing he was in Grimnar's place, knocking me around."

Akereth wasn't buying it, though. "Take it from another man, Jaelyn. Especially one who...well, who knows what it's like. There was something there."

Jaelyn shook her head in disbelief. "No, take it from someone who knows him better than you do. It was nothing."

The man sighed and deflated. "I can see that you're stubborn and you're not going to believe me unless you see it for yourself. But I do not wish to argue with you, so I will speak of it no more."

She nodded with a smile, walked over to him and looped her arm through his.

"Let's enjoy this stroll, all right?"

He smiled back and they continued on as if the conversation had never happened. But Akereth had planted the seed of uncertainty in her mind now. It was due to sprout soon.

Their walk was mostly in silence, but a comfortable silence between two people who felt at home with each other. It felt strange to Jaelyn, who was not used to anyone being comfortable around her. It didn't feel as if they had just met a few hours ago. It felt like they had known each other for years, which was even stranger, because they'd hardly even exchanged words. But that feeling was still there. She was comfortable with someone at last, someone with the potential for being more than a friend.

It was also technically her first date and she wondered briefly what her first kiss...oh, wait. No. She'd already had her first kiss...with _him_. So, that was ruined. Still, she supposed it didn't matter. She'd call it practice, then if she and Akereth kissed, she would be ready for it and it wouldn't be all sloppy as it had been with the ranger.

When they returned back to the village center, a number of natives were all dancing around it. It was a strange kind of dance that involved a lot of spinning and jumping and falling down. The music that was playing was typical for that type of dance, something quick and upbeat with a lot of drum action.

Akereth grinned, grabbed Jaelyn's hand, and dragged her over to the group.

"But I don't know how to dance like that!" she protested with a laugh.

"Don't worry." he replied. "They're all too drunk to notice. Besides, it's about having fun, not how you look doing it."

He grabbed her other hand and before she could protest any further, he was spinning her around in circles. And she laughed. She couldn't remember the last time she'd laughed so hard or had that much fun.

**xxxxxxxxxx**

Jaelyn sat on the log in front of the bonfire at the end of all her dances with Akereth. He had been abruptly called away by his father, so she never did get to share that kiss with him. It was just as well, she supposed. They had only known each other a few hours, there was no need to rush things.

One of the native women nearby, the flute player, offered her a clay jug of something that had a very sharp, acidic odor.

Jaelyn took it, but looked down into it inquiringly.

"It is the Water of Life." the woman said with a smile.

_And no doubt intoxicating by the smell_, Jaelyn thought. _But hells, it was a party, right? So, party on!_

She lifted the jug to her lips and took a long, hearty swallow from it. She made a harsh grimace that called up laughter from the watching natives around her.

"She drinks well for one so small." said one of the men in drow.

Jaelyn grinned at him. "I'll drink you into oblivion, young man."

The man sauntered over and took a seat beside her on the log.

"A challenge, then?"

She nodded curtly, although she was still smiling.

The man turned to the flute player and made a gesture. She handed him a fresh jug containing this Water of Life that tasted strangely like hard whiskey to Jaelyn.

"Caution to you, Talbar," another man said. "Remember what happened to the last man she challenged?"

Talbar scoffed. "I'm tougher than that Grimnar."

"You don't know who you're messing with, pal." she replied with good-natured competitiveness. "I've drunk Gibbering Lich and survived."

She received a round of confused looks, so she told them what she was talking about and immediately those confused looks became ones of shock. She was still of the belief that a drink (that wasn't poisoned) couldn't kill you, even though Bishop had been adamant about the Lich's ability to end lives.

But the natives didn't need to know that.

"Is there truly a drink from where you're from that could kill a man?" one of the native men asked with widened eyes.

"I don't believe it, myself, but that's the rumor." she replied. "Supposedly, no one has every gone over two shots and lived."

"What's a shot?" another inquired.

"It's the size of the drink." she said and measured it for them with her hand. "About that much."

Jaws dropped.

Talbar closed his mouth and stuck out his chin. "The Water of Life is strong as well. We will see who is the last one standing."

"Let's get to it, then!"

An hour and two jugs of the Water of Life later, Jaelyn swayed violently and fell off her log.

Talbar laughed heartily and leaned over her.

"You did fair against me, but I walk away the winner." he announced smugly and then removed himself from the log.

_Well, you couldn't win them all._

Jaelyn could vaguely make out the other men congratulating their comrade, then she was being pulled up onto the log by one of them. She sat there for a second, her head spinning and then swayed backward to the ground again.

He tried to help her again, but she flailed a hand about dismissively.

"I'll be...hic...fine." she slurred. "Jush leaf me here."

"Are you certain?"

"Yep."

She lay there for a long time, her mind whirling with inebriation and racing with thoughts. Through her blurred vision, she watched the stars wink and then thin clouds jet past.

The seed of uncertainty had been nourished by alcohol. It took root in her brain and sprouted. She wondered.

What if Akereth's claim was true? What if Bishop truly did have feelings for her? Nah...that was impossible...right?...Right? Well, what about all this making her realize and overcome her cowardice? Why would he help her like that? Why would he even bother? There was nothing he could gain from it. And then he helped her when she'd gotten bolted by those drow. Why that? Why any of it, damn it? This shouldn't be so confusing, should it? It should be easy and comfortable like with Akereth. It should be about wondering when they'd next see each other again, or what they would do together the next day. It shouldn't be about wondering what his intentions were, what he was planning on doing to her. It should be about trust. But damn it, she wanted to know the truth. She deserved the truth, whether he wanted to face it or not. She would not be able to stop thinking about it until she knew, she would not be able to enjoy Akereth's company again until she knew.

Why should that matter?

It was a thought that struck her hard.

If she really did like Akereth, then why did it matter whether or not Bishop had feelings for her? It shouldn't, she knew. It wasn't supposed to. So, she really did care; it really did matter.

She shook her head.

_No. It doesn't._

She was lying to herself.

_I don't want it to matter. It's just...like closure. That's it. I need closure. Even if he does have feelings, I wouldn't. I would never...would I? Ow...my head. I just want answers, damn it. Just answers._

And only that thrice-cursed ranger had them. And she knew she was probably never going to get them. Still, she had to try. No, she would do. She would knife the answers out of him if she had to.

Slowly and unsteadily, Jaelyn hauled herself over the log and glanced around through squinted eyes.

Everyone was gone. Probably retired for the night, she assumed.

She put a hand to her throbbing head and tried to get to her feet. She failed the first few times, but the third time was the charm. She was able to stand up and sway a bit before she staggered her way across the village, once she figured out which foot went first.

Strange that. Why was it you could have epiphanies and revelations when you're drunk, but you couldn't do simple things like walk? The mind was a mysterious thing.

Jaelyn staggered her way across the village, wondering where the cause of her frustration was.

Last time she'd seen him was at the fight with Grimnar, when he told her how to beat him. Then when she'd won, he was no where to be seen. Now that she thought about it, it was a bit strange of him to take off like that. She would've figured he'd want to stick around and gloat about how she wouldn't have won without his help.

She winced. Her arm was hurting.

When she looked down at it, there was dirt all stuck to the salve on it. She tried to brush some of the dirt away, but found it hurt worse when she did that. She left it alone and just hoped it wouldn't get infected. Better not to make matters worse.

Jaelyn found the end of the village that contained her shelter. Her own was dark, but the one next to it was not. There was a candle inside it lit and she saw a shadow moving against the hide walls.

She strode unsteadily toward it and sighted the ranger through the threshold.

He was lounging back in a chair, booted feet propped up on a table, and he was in the midst of sharpening his skinning knife.

She couldn't help but notice that he was bare-chested and looking mighty attractive in the candle light.

Damn him! It wasn't fair that he should be so good-looking and a jerk. Okay, that was a bit shallow, considering her own trouble with appearances, but it still wasn't fair. How dare he put desires in her that couldn't be sated. Bastard, that's what he was. A bastard! A terrible, terrible bastard!

Jaelyn bristled and marched into his shelter, her hands making fists at her sides.

"_You_!" she growled at him.

Bishop looked up at her, a brow raised. Even from where he was sitting, he could smell the alcohol on her.

"What're you doing?" she demanded.

He made a gesture as if what he was doing was obvious, which it in fact was, but Jaelyn couldn't think of how she wanted to start this conversation. In fact, she was feeling a bit terrified.

"What does it look like?" he replied smartly.

"Well..." she cleared her throat, nervously. "Stop it a minute. It's time you and I have a little talk."

"About?"

"Er..." she began. "Things."

He tossed his knife on the table and drew an arm across the back of the chair, casually. He found himself suddenly interested in her presence.

He was smirking.

"You are aware that you're drunk, right?"

Jaelyn blinked. "Yes...but only a little. I'm thinking very clearly!"

She realized she had shouted that last part in defense and immediately regretted it. He looked very amused by all this and it wasn't supposed to be funny. It was supposed to be serious, damn it. She wanted answers.

"If you're coming to me while intoxicated, you're not thinking clear at all, drow." he said in a tone full of threats. "I could easily take advantage of this situation."

She sneered at him. "What, you think I'm not aware of that?"

"Then why are you here?"

"I told you, damn it! We're talking!"

"...We are? Sounds to me like you're shouting." he pointed out, calmly.

"Don't get smart with me." she growled, jabbing a finger hard into his arm and ignoring the thrill she felt in touching him while he didn't have his leather tunic on.

He noted the marks on her arm immediately. Before she could draw back, his hand wrapped around her wrist and turned her arm this way and that as he studied the tattoos closely. Then he let her go with a sniff of indignation.

"Can't believe you let them mark you up like that."

"I earned them, godsdamnit!" she stated proudly.

He gave her a smug expression. "Thanks to me."

Her face went grim and solemn. "Yeah, okay. I can admit it. I probably wouldn't have won that fight without your help."

"Probably? No, you definitely wouldn't have won that fight."

"Fine. So, why did you help me, then?" she demanded.

He shrugged and looked away. "Maybe I wanted to see their faces when a drow put one of them down...or maybe I just wanted you to owe me."

"You're lying." she replied without hesitation, and she was getting angry now, angry because she wanted the truth and he was never going to give it to her. Not like this. "Tell me, damn you! Tell me why!"

"I told you why." he snapped. "It's not my fault if you can't accept it."

Jaelyn sighed and hung her head. She rubbed her forehead in frustration, knowing what this was going to have to come to. There was one other thing she could try, one other way to know the truth.

She stood there for a moment, trying to gain the courage. She fidgeted, nervously, trying not to think of the consequences that might arise from what she was about to do. She reached out and pushed his feet off the table.

He looked up at her with an irate expression and opened his mouth to say something. The words died in his throat when she moved around in front of him and straddled his lap, her eyes staring into his. He'd never seen such a grave and serious expression on her face before. There was meaning in it.

Jaelyn was aware of her heart pounding in terror, but she meant to see this through. She was also aware of how fast his hands found a place to grab on her. They were on her hips and due to her scrimpy clothing, it was a fleshy touch. She could feel his warmth seeping into her; she could feel every callous and it was more than a little arousing.

"Kiss me." she urged him.

He narrowed his eyes. He was being suspicious about it. That wasn't good.

"Why?" he asked.

Jaelyn had never had to use feminine wiles on any man, mostly because it never would've worked and she wasn't exactly sure what 'wiles' were, but she was going to try them out on the ranger nevertheless. She prayed hard for success.

She leaned forward, pressing herself against him. Her chest was crushed against his and she was completely surprised when she felt his sharp intake of breath and how his hands tightened on her in response.

"Because I want you to." she half-lied without pause.

And there was no pause on his part either.

His hand slipped behind her neck to brace her and then he closed up the little bit of space between them.

There was no slowness to the kiss. It started off hard and demanding, and she whimpered in alarm, her hands braced against his chest.

Slowly did her mind register the warm skin under her palms. It induced a deep desire in her, a desire to explore him. And as he intensified the kiss, parting her mouth with his own for a deeper taste of her, she did just that.

She let her fingers roam him, let the texture of his skin seep into her consciousness. She focused on the smoothness of him, on the curve and ridge of every scar, and the taut muscle.

Her head was getting fuzzy and she was beginning to find it very hard to think straight. Her desires were overriding her purpose for this whole thing.

_Danger_! her common sense warned, but it went unheeded.

The hand on her hip traveled over her stomach and then made a path upward until it came upon her breast. That touch made her heart tighten and when his thumb caressed her, she melted. Had she been standing, her legs would've given out.

She gave a deep moan that went straight into his mouth. He breathed it in and savored it.

Gods, for not having any experience at this, she sure as the hells knew what she was doing.

_Beginner's luck_, he told himself before he lost his train of thought to the feel and weight of her breast in his hand, to the sweet taste of her, and the fact that he could feel her quick pulse through the touch. It was all making him dazed. He also noted that his heart was doing the same thing hers was...and it shouldn't have been. This should've been easy prey here; he could easily take advantage of her, but he shouldn't have been reacting this way. He should've been trying to get what he wanted from her, his fingers should've been working the clasps on her brassier-top thing or at least finding their way under her skirt. But to his ultimate shock, he wanted to go on kissing her for a while before he went that far; he wanted her to continue touching and exploring him. Her fingers felt nice on his skin; they were calloused like his own, but that didn't matter. The rest of her was as soft as silk. And her mouth against his...it was some kind of magic, some kind of magic he couldn't explain. Something beyond words...

Finally, after what seemed like ages, they broke apart.

Her eyes remained closed for a moment as she processed it all. Then slowly, she opened them to look at him.

There was a slight smirk there that she was about to wipe off.

"Tell me you didn't feel anything." she said, challenging him, daring him to deny it.

Bishop came back down to earth as he realized with horror that he had just been tricked.

His golden eyes narrowed dangerously.

This bitch...this little bitch! How dare she!

He moved swiftly, grabbing her roughly and hauling her up with him when he stood. His hands held her at the shoulders, fingers digging into her skin.

Okay, so he was angry. That was to be expected.

"I don't feel _anything_ for you!" he shouted at her. "And I never will. Get that through your fucking skull."

He shoved her back away from him. She stood her ground.

This whole warrior business had made her a bit too bold for her own good. He had warned her many times that she was going to stand up to him on the wrong day. That day had come.

Anger was festering inside him. If she didn't get away soon, she never would.

He didn't like being tricked and he was close, very close to grabbing his knife off the table and cutting a tattoo into her throat. Toy with him, will she?

_Fucking bitch._

"You godsdamned coward." she spat at him.

He wanted that knife. He wanted to stick it through her deceptive little heart, but he merely stood there, his hands clenching into tight fists. He was overhwhelmed then, not by anger, but by something else.

He also didn't want to do it.

_Damn her!_

Bishop glared at her, hating her for all of it. "Get out."

"No." she said boldly. "Not until you tell me the truth!"

Without any hesitation whatsoever, he grabbed her by the arm and propelled her out of his shelter. She stumbled, regained herself and turned just in time to stare up the point of his skinning knife.

"Go on," he dared her in a frigid voice. "Step one foot in here and see if I don't stick this blade in your throat."

Jaelyn shook her head in disgust, in anger and perhaps a degree of despair as well. Her eyes burned and she was trembling and didn't know why.

"I hate you."

"Like I care." he spat in return. "Go on, get out of here. I'm sick of looking at you."

"Likewise."

She spun on her heel and stomped off toward her shelter. She was in tears before she reached it.


	16. Chapter 16: Deal

**xxxxxx**

* * *

**Chapter Sixteen:**

**Deal**

**xxxxxx**

**Quin** awoke to that cherub-like face hovering over him. The angelic features were contorted into a look of deep concern and it was framed by an erratic spill of black hair. Her large blue eyes glittered with tears and her lip was trembling.

He looked past her and noted the trees overhead and the clouds zipping by in the star-lit sky. Somewhere behind him was the stone building where the drow had kept them all prisoner.

_Island must still be moving_, he noted groggily. _Doesn't matter right now. Come on, Quin. You gotta get these children home_.

But his body ached everywhere. He just wanted to lay there for a while, but he knew that would be folly. There could still be drow down in that passage he hadn't explored, the one that had led down into the ground; so sitting around was not an option right now.

Gingerly, because of his leg, Quin sat up and looked around.

He first noticed that the children were all hunkered nearby, watching him with grim expressions. Some of their faces were bruised and caked with dried blood from numerous cuts. Thankfully, none of them looked to be seriously injured, although, he noticed that the three boys sat protectively around another little girl, who stared off into space. Her face was frozen in a look of mute horror; she didn't move and she didn't speak; it hardly looked like she was breathing.

Despair draped over Quin. All he'd done to save these children, but it looked like the drow had won on at least one account. That little girl would probably never return to reality. Wherever she was, she was probably better off. It occurred to the halfling that it was a good probability that she was the daughter of the headless female native he'd found in that room with the children. No doubt she had been forced to watch the horror of her mother being decapitated and only the gods knew what else may have happened before hand.

He wanted to comfort the poor child, but he knew it would've done no good. She wasn't even aware of her friends around her.

The next thing Quin noticed was that his leg had been bandaged; crudely, but still done in a fashion unexpected of the ones around him. And it looked like the bleeding had finally stopped. He had a feeling the cherub had taken care of this.

It still hurt like the hells, but less so than it had earlier. It was wrapped with strips of cloth that the cherub girl had torn off her hide dress.

The girl pointed out into the forest and said something the halfling couldn't understand.

Sign language was the only way they could all communicate, so by Quin's estimation, the little girl wanted to get moving and that wasn't a bad idea.

He tried to get up, failed, but then with the aid of the little girl, he was standing, carefully putting weight on his injured leg to see how much of it it could take. Not much, as it turned out, but that wasn't exactly surprising. He'd put that leg through the hells.

He could put enough weight on it to limp, so that would have to be good enough.

The next problem to present itself was he had no idea where they were.

Quin studied his surroundings for anything familiar, but it all looked as foreign as Kara-Tur to him. Then he remembered the map he'd taken off of the table in the armory.

He fumbled for his pack, drew it open and pulled out the large roll of parchment. He unrolled it and studied its features. The little girl craned her head to see as well.

The map was of the island; the landmass it presented was surrounded by water. There was a large circle with an 'X' in the middle of the map and there were a few smaller 'X's placed in random places around it, as well as another large 'X' in the far north of the island. It was hard to tell their location due to the fact that the map had been drawn crudely, definitely not by any cartographer, or if it was, it was by one that should seriously consider a career change. Quin could've drawn a better map with his feet, but it would have to do; it was the only thing he had that was going to help him get back to the village. His other map, the magical one, didn't exactly show much detail; it was more of an overall view of the Trackless Sea.

The cherub girl jabbed a finger excitedly at the circle with the 'X' in the middle of the map, speaking rapidly in her language.

Quin only nodded. Yep, that was the village. He'd already had that part figured out. What he didn't know was where they were.

But the girl seemed to have figured it out, for she then pointed to a small 'X' on the northeastern part of the map, about sixty or seventy miles away from the village. She jabbed her finger at it repeatedly and then pointed behind at the stone structure where they had been imprisoned and tortured.

So, that must be where they were.

The girl grabbed his hand, said something to the others that had them getting to their feet and then she was heading out into the forest, pulling Quin along behind her.

The halfling stopped her.

"I know you want to get home, but it's too dangerous to travel at night. And we're all tired and hurt. It would be best to wait until morning." he said to her.

She cocked her head to one side, confused.

"Er..." replied Quin, thoughtfully.

He pointed to the sky and then clasped his hands together, placing them under one cheek and then closed his eyes while making a snoring noise.

It got a small laugh out of the girl, and after all that had happened, he was truly surprised that she could even perform such a feat. Laughter should've been impossible after all the horrors they'd gone through. She was much stronger than she looked. Quin just hoped she understood what he meant.

They needed to rest before they traveled sixty some miles. They were only children and he was beyond exhausted. He wasn't even sure he could get up the stamina to find somewhere away from that stone building to make a camp for the night. They couldn't stay there. He had a bad feeling that there were more drow about close by. So, the sooner they got out of sight, the better.

Quin gathered the children in front of him. He didn't want them in the back, the weakest part of any traveling group, where a drow could easily snatch a child away or issue an attack that would likely end in many innocent deaths. He'd seen one child die today and that was enough to last a life time. He wouldn't be able to handle another child's death.

The group traveled as silently as possible through the brush and trees, Quin desperately seeking a place to camp while also providing them cover.

There was a cliff face running along their right side and so they kept close to that. It was dark, almost too dark. Their only light came from the moon and it was often being shrouded by clouds. Halflings weren't exactly known for having good night vision; despite his Shadow Thief training, which involved a lot of maneuvering through the darkness, he still could hardly see a thing. So, Quin picked and limped his way carefully through the plant-cramped ground, muttering apologies when he accidentally stepped on a plant that responded in an agonized and slightly miffed screech. He needed to watch his step or those damn plants were going to give away their position if any drow happened by. Or he might anger one enough that it attacked. He wasn't sure if the ground plants were prone to attacking like the trees, but Quin figured it was better to be safe than sorry. Wouldn't due for them to survive the drow, only to be killed by the native flora.

His little cherub tugged on his arm. Quin stopped to look at her and she pointed ahead into the darkness and then grabbed his arm to pull him along after her.

The halfling allowed this on the grounds that the little girl obviously knew where she was going. Maybe she had played out here before, though such a thing didn't seem wise if the drow were this close. Then again, perhaps that was how she had been captured.

She said something to the other children and they all looked at each other in collective understanding. They all began moving quicker and Quin was certain now that they all knew where they were going. He also noticed that they were careful where they walked so they didn't trample any plants, which in turn made their steps quiet. Quin stepped where they stepped to avoid any more abuse to the flora.

Quin was uncertain of how many miles they had traveled or how long they had traveled. After the first mile, he began to get dazed and muddled in the head. After that, he followed along behind the children like a zombie. Thankfully, the girl still had a hold of his arm or he might have wandered away and over a cliff or something.

Finally, they all stopped at what looked to be a dead end. There were jagged cliff walls in every direction except for the one they had come from.

Quin looked around through half-lidded eyes in confusion.

"Wha...?"

The girl yanked him forward and pointed at the wall.

He didn't see anything until they were standing right in front of it.

There was a long crack in the cliff face about five feet high and two feet wide; easy for a child to get through, but would prove difficult if not impossible for a human adult.

Quin had a feeling that this was to be their camp for the night. He eyed the crack warily and then looked at the girl.

"Are you sure it's safe?"

She cocked her head to the side again.

"Safe?" he repeated, louder this time as if the higher volume had the power to transcend the language barrier.

It only put a frown of worry on the girl's face that made her look like a child that has just gotten yelled at by a parent and doesn't know what she did to deserve it.

Quin sighed, hung his head and pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration.

He had no idea how to communicate 'safe' with hand or body gestures and he was too tired to try and figure it out. He could only pray this crack in the cliff face would be an inconspicuous enough place to camp until morning.

The troop of children plus one short-statured adult filed into the crack, squeezing through it one at a time, Quin being the last to enter.

He was quite surprised to find himself in a small cave-like alcove. It would do just fine for the night.

The halfling wasted no time in claiming a spot on the rocky ground. The other children followed suit. They, as they have been since Quin first set eyes on them, huddled together at the back of the alcove, using random, soft body parts of each other as pillows.

The cherub-faced girl sat down near Quin, her gaze moving over to the crack they had just come through.

The halfling unfastened his cloak-which had seen better days-from his leather armor, bundled it up into something that could be used as a pillow and then tapped the girl on the shoulder.

She looked at him and he gestured the cloak to her with a smile. The girl looked at it for a long moment and then shook her head, pushing it back toward him. Quin frowned.

"To sleep on." he said and placed the cloak under his face and made that snoring noise again, earning a smile from her.

Again she shook her head and jabbed him in the chest with a small finger. She then took the cloak from him, bundled it up more pleasantly and laid it behind him. She pointed at him and then pointed at the cloak.

"Are you sure?"

Despite them not understanding each others language, she some how understood his question. She nodded and pushed him back until he was laying down on his cloak. She then gave his cheek a pat and looked at the crack again.

Quin smiled.

"Thank you."

**xxxxxxxxxx**

Jaelyn was awakened by a rough tongue moving frantically against her cheek, a strange sensation for anyone to wake up to. For one tiny moment, she had no idea what in the hells it was and she reached out to defend herself. Her hand slipped into soft, warm fur. Her alarm eased and her hand became gentle.

_Time to get up_, a voice came to her. It was Feral's 'voice'.

Her eyes slid open and she groaned when the light of the world speared into her brain.

A hangover. This was going to be a good day.

Slowly, Jaelyn sat up on her elbows, her eyes half-lidded against the brightness and looked at Feral, who was sitting beside her, grinning.

_So, feel like talking about it, yet? I'm curious to know why you came in here last night, bawling and smelling of that...nasty two-leg you seem to be smitten with._

She frowned and gave a soft groan. "Urrg...sometimes I wish you didn't have the remarkable intelligence to notice things and ask questions."

_So, what did he do, then? Come on, you can tell me. Is it really bad? You want me to go rip off a random body part for you? I'll do it, you know._

Jaelyn couldn't deny how tempting that was, but she wasn't the type of person to get others to deal with her problems. She'd handle the situation herself, though she had no idea how she'd go about it. Talking definitely wasn't the answer; she'd tried that already and that was what had gotten her into her current predicament. Well, that and bold actions. Maybe she would just avoid it all together. Yes, that was a sound plan. She would avoid him from now on.

"No doubt," she replied to Feral. "Look, it's nothing, alright?"

_Nothing? Nothing had you crying yourself to sleep? I've never seen you that upset before. Come on. I'll go easy on him. I'll only rip off an arm._

"Just forget it!" she snapped, angrily. "I'm not talking about it anymore, so just drop it."

Feral's grin drooped into something that resembled a frown.

_All right. No need in blowing your top. I was just trying to help, you know._

Jaelyn drew herself up until her back was pressed against the wall. She reached out and gave Feral a caress of apology.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled at you. I know you're just trying to help, but it was all my own fault, anyway. I...sort of tricked him, so maybe his hostility is warranted."

_Tricked him? How?_

Jaelyn bit her lip as she felt her face grow hot at remembering what had occurred between her and the ranger last night. Despite her deception of using her 'wiles' to see past his walls, she had enjoyed the kiss between them, the alarming voraciousness of it, and the way he sucked the breath right out of her. She'd enjoyed touching him, of feeling a solid man beneath her fingers, of touching him intimately. And she had enjoyed him touching her as well.

Something had happened there, she knew; at least for her part. She had felt something she couldn't quite put words to. It was almost like...magic, despite how cliched it sounded. It was truly the only word she could put to that feeling. It was like some fierce energy running through her, welling up inside her, threatening to erupt. She might have even gone all the way with him if she hadn't been trying to trick him.

She had seen and felt something behind all those walls and all that cold armor he wore, something being held back. There was a lot of darkness in him, but last night she had seen a tiny glimpse of light, so insignificant against the darkness that she might not have even noticed it if she hadn't been looking for it.

_What was that light?_ she wondered. Was it just something conjured from the fierceness of the moment or was it something else altogether? Was it truly what she had been searching for in him? Was it that thing Akereth had claimed to have seen in him during her fight with Grimnar? She didn't know. She knew nothing. The whole purpose of what she had done last night was to get those answers, but it had only created more questions. There was only one thing she knew for certain: something was there. She just had no clue what it was and she had a feeling she would never know. By tricking him, she had betrayed his trust, what little of it she had. So, any move she made on him in the future would be rejected. She had erred terribly.

_Hey! Are you listening?_

Jaelyn looked at Feral. "Hm?"

_How did you trick him?_

She shook her head, solemnly. "It doesn't matter and I don't want to talk about it."

Feral watched her as she got up from the bed, changed into her leathers and then sat down on the end of the bed to pull her boots on and lace them up properly.

"I missed the feast last night," she said, casually. "So I'm going to go talk to Olland and then find something to eat. You stay in here and out of trouble."

_Trouble? Me?_

"Yes," she replied, giving him a meaningful look. "I know how you enjoy mauling things."

_But I would never maul anyone here, aside from that nasty two-leg._

"Not even if one of them angered you?"

_Well..._

"And that's my point. Look, Feral, I've got enough on my plate as it is. Just stay here and I'll bring you back something good to eat."

This seemed to appeal to the cat-bear.

_You've got a deal._

Jaelyn arose from the bed, took the comb one of the native women had gifted her with off the table and then headed out of her shelter. She winced against the horrid light that seemed to be making an extra effort today at trying to blind her, or at least give her a severe migraine.

The drow groaned and shielded her eyes with her hand as she made her way across the village toward Olland's shelter.

Akereth and Grimnar stood outside the wide door, on guard. Grimnar didn't bother to hide a sneer as she approached. His nose was bandaged. Apparently, that knee to the face she'd given him had broken his nasal prominence. Akereth offered her a warm smile.

"We missed you at the feast last night." he remarked to her in drow.

"Oh...uh...I got a little tipsy last night and I think I may have blacked out...or zoned out or something, because when I came back to reality everyone was gone. I supposed they had all gone off to bed or something. It's just as well that I missed the feast. I wasn't exactly feeling very well."

Akereth smirked and gave her a nod. "Yes, the Water of Life isn't exactly gentle on the stomach."

_Neither is tricking short-tempered rangers_, she thought ruefully.

"How did you know that's what I was drinking?" she inquired, curiously.

He chuckled. "Well, the Water of Life is the only potent drink we have. Besides, Talbar was bragging well into the night about beating you at a drinking challenge."

"Yes," she replied with a slight grimace. "I think I may have had one challenge too many yesterday."

"But you won the one that mattered."

At this, Grimnar turned a glare on his comrade and looked very close to punching him out. If he even tried it, Jaelyn was going to make light work of him.

Akereth laughed in the face of that glare and gave the large man a good-natured slap on the back.

"Relax, Grim." he said. "There's nothing wrong with losing to Jaelyn. You should be proud of yourself, you know. You almost had her there for a minute."

"I would have had her if that other hadn't come along." Grimnar replied angrily, turning his heated gaze on Jaelyn. "You won by a cheat, drow. Nothing more."

Jaelyn glared at him. "Cheat? There was no rule against my seeking advice from a frien..." she stopped and corrected herself. "From someone. I won fair."

"What would your kind know about fair?" he shot back. "You raided our village and killed the innocent and defenseless! They had no weapons to defend themselves! But it didn't stop you from murdering."

Jaelyn gave him a frigid look. "I am not them. I am not the drow that killed your wife. Do not stand there and compare me to them when I was the one that aided in saving this village and your people!"

Her voice had rose sharply in volume and she noticed the silence that followed it immediately. She risked a quick look around to find almost every native within the vicinity staring in her direction, their faces showing a degree of alarm and maybe a small bit of curiosity.

Akereth cleared his throat awkwardly. "Er...let's calm down now, all right? We need to move on from this and we definitely can't afford to be at each others' throats. We have more important matters to focus on."

"Indeed." Jaelyn replied, haughtily. "If you'll both step out of my way, maybe I can start focusing on them."

She didn't wait for them to move. She simply shouldered past them and entered Olland's hut.

The leader of the natives was sitting in an ornate wooden chair, not looking particularly busy with his elbow on the chair arm, his chin resting in his hand. A native woman stood behind him, seeing to his grooming.

When Jaelyn entered, Olland looked up at her and offered a small smile in greeting.

"Ah, the drow warrior." he said in her language.

Jaelyn understood that her defeating Grimnar must have softened the leader's opinion of her, for this was not the first time he had spoken in the language of the drow. Only last night, after she had gotten her tattoo, Olland had come to her and they had shared a conversation completely in drow and about the drow. Gulaonar had told her at the council meeting that Olland had no desire to speak the language because he considered it a curse of some kind to do so. So, Jaelyn had to ask.

"You're speaking to me in drow. Why?"

Olland met her gaze. "In your battle with my top warrior, Grimnar, you have proven to me that you are not one of them. You fought with honor and you defeated him fairly. You could have killed him if you wanted to; if you truly were one of them, I have no doubt that you would have. But you didn't. With drow like you and Gulaonar, I have come to realize my erroneous and unjust beliefs about your kind. Where these others are a disgrace, you and Gulaonar have brought honor. You are the pinnacle of your race, who your people should model themselves after. Indeed, a great deal of the drow here are monstrous and evil, but perhaps there may be others like you out there that are too frightened of their leader to stand up to him or to try to escape."

"Perhaps." she replied. "If there are, I will do what I can to sway them from Dresmor."

"That is all you can do for them, I'm afraid. It must be their choice; it cannot be forced upon them."

She only nodded and changed the subject to what she truly wanted to discuss with the native leader. "I have come to you on another matter."

Olland made a gesture for her to continue. "Proceed then. I will hear you."

"A matter regarding this." she continued and held out the comb to him.

He took it and looked at it closely, turning it over in his hands.

"A comb." he noted. "One made by the craftswomen. A very fine piece. Do you not approve of it?"

Jaelyn tried to keep the frown off of her face, but it was nearly impossible due to her gathering frustration with everyone around her being so literal-minded.

"Not the comb." she said. "But what the comb depicts. It's a boat."

Olland nodded, his eyes focused on the cravings in the bone comb. "Yes, likely the one the drow arrived on many, many island lives ago, though no one has ever been sure of this."

"Then you do know of it? Where is it?"

"Many miles from the village, at a shore in the southeast region of the island." he replied, handing the comb back to her. "Why do you ask about it?"

Jaelyn took a becalming breath to settle herself. She had no idea how Olland was going to take the offer she was about to make. It was a good possibility that he might get highly offended, or he might despise her for putting him into a tough position.

"Because, if my companion and I are to train your people to withstand the drow, we're going to need something back in return." she said, keeping her voice firm and business-like. "In return for our training, we want your people to fix the boat so that we may be able to return to the mainland, our home."

Olland looked at her for a long moment, expressionless and Jaelyn held her breath. He tapped his chin, his gaze slipping thoughtfully to some empty space over her shoulder.

Finally, after what seemed like ages, he looked at her again and nodded.

"I cannot promise anything, but in exchange for the training, I can have our best wood workers attempt to fix the boat. You understand, we have no idea how to build one, so there is a good chance of failure."

Jaelyn nodded, but she was smiling. It was probably the best news she heard since landing on this godsforsaken rock.

"I understand that and I think it would be a good idea if I had a look at it to see how much damage there is to it. I'm not a builder of boats myself but I have some understanding of their workings. So, perhaps I'll be able to tell if it's repairable or not." she said. "Is there someone who knows the way to the boat? Someone who can lead me to it?"

Olland nodded. "Grimnar knows the way, but he's still a bit sore from his loss...both of them. Speak to him and tell him that on my orders, he is to take you to the boat. You may take him when you're ready and I would hear of what you find there. Use great caution in traveling in the southeastern part of the island. There are various creatures that don't take lightly to having their territory disturbed."

Jaelyn smiled widely, feeling somewhat hopeful by how things were turning out so far.

"Thank you, Lord Olland." she replied and immediately exited the shelter.

Outside, she faced Grimnar with a smug smirk.

"By your leaders' orders, you are to take me to the boat on the southeastern shore." she said firmly.

Grimnar's face reddened in anger. "I will do no such thing!"

Akereth faced him with a stern look. "You disobey the orders of Lord Olland? That's not like you, Grim."

"She lies!"

Jaelyn crossed her arms. "Ask Lord Olland yourself, then."

"I will do just that!" he shouted and spun on his heel, ripping aside the decorative curtain that blocked the threshold. He disappeared behind it for several minutes.

Jaelyn rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Is he always like that?"

Akereth smirked. "When he's shown up, yes. He likes to hold grudges."

The curtain was ripped back again and Grimnar appeared, irate.

"Fine. I'll take you. It would seem that I have no choice." he said, unpleasantly.

"Good." she snapped. "I will return for you when I'm ready to leave. I'd suggest you find something to take with you as a weapon. Lord Olland says that portion of the island is dangerous."

"Why do you tell me this, drow? I have already been there; I know the dangers that lurk."

She scoffed, spun around and marched off toward her shelter.

Inside, Jaelyn took up her quiver from its place on the table and strapped it in place around her right thigh. She then grabbed her longbow from the corner where she'd stood it.

Feral watched her through curious, yellow eyes.

_Where are you going?_

"To look at a boat." she replied without turning.

She checked the string on her bow and then tested its strength. Satisfied, she pulled it over one shoulder and across her chest.

_A boat?_

"Yes, it could possibly be our way off this island."

_You mean...you're not staying here?_

Jaelyn sensed the sudden sadness in her animal companion. She turned to look at him.

"You know I can't stay here." she said. "This isn't my home. I live on the mainland."

Feral rose up on all fours, standing on the bed solidly.

_Then I am coming with you._

Jaelyn smiled but she shook her head. "You can't. You know that. This is your home."

She felt the sadness again, more potent than the first time around. She bit back tears.

_I have nothing here, no reason to stay. I am coming with you. That's final._

"Feral."

He sat down, turned his back to her and curled up on the bed again to sleep. The sorrow was a gray aura around him, and she understood now that they were bonded as she and Elegy were bonded. She felt the cat-bear's emotional pain as if it were her own.

Jaelyn leaned over him, gave him a gentle, loving caress and then placed a kiss on his furry head.

She left her shelter.

Jaelyn stood just outside of it, squinting around at the village. The people were milling about on their daily routines, seeing to their tasks and errands. A few children ran about the village square, laughing and playing as if they were warriors. Both of them were male and they were wrestling around in the dirt, playfully hitting one another. A nearby native woman, possibly one of the boys' mother, issued a firm warning to them. The boys rolled their eyes in unison and then got up to start chasing each other around, successfully getting under the foot of passing adults.

This was a peaceful place. And the people were happy despite the threat looming over them. It was unfair that these tranquil people had to learn warfare in order to survive in their own home, that they had gone so long without knowing violence and bloodshed only for them to be forced into it. She would have loved to know these peoples and this island in the days before the drow showed up. She imagined it must've been a paradise.

She sighed and strolled over to the shelter next to hers. She didn't want to go to him, but she knew she was going to need his opinion once they reached that boat. She needed the extra pair of eyes. Besides, there was always the possibility that he might know a thing or two about boats.

So much for avoiding him.

Jaelyn stopped in the threshold and leaned against the frame.

He was sitting in a chair, restringing his bow, which stood between his knees, and he knew she was there the moment she showed up.

"I don't have time for you. Shove off." he said, not bothering to hide his disdain for her or even to grace her with a glance.

Jaelyn ignored his attitude for both their sakes.

"I just came by to tell you that Olland has agreed to my terms." she said, coldly. "In exchange for training the people, he will have his best craftsmen try to repair the boat."

Bishop said nothing.

Jaelyn fidgeted uneasily under his frigid silence.

"I was actually on my way to go have a look at it, see how much damage there is to it. That Grimnar is going to take me. I was wondering...if you wanted to come." she said after a moment.

Silence.

Jaelyn frowned at him. What was this, the silent treatment? From him?

"So, what, now you're not speaking to me?"

Apparently he wasn't speaking to her or looking at her. Any other time she might have looked forward to this treatment, but right now she needed his help.

She stepped into the shelter and she immediately noted how stiff he went.

"I told you to shove off." he finally said in a gruff voice full of envenomed knives. There was no room left for arguing about it either, but she didn't exactly have the choice to leave it be.

"Yeah, but I'm not shoving off." she replied, stubbornly. "Honestly, Bishop, why are you so angry over nothing?"

She was pressing her luck.

He stood up fast, flung his bow onto the table and loomed over her.

Jaelyn felt her heart grow cold in fear, but she held her breath and stood her ground all the same.

"I don't like being toyed with, you little bitch." he growled at her. "And you're going to regret playing games with me. Now, you can either leave while you're still intact, or I can send you out in pieces. I really don't give a damn which."

Jaelyn sighed and folded her arms. Her gaze went to her feet and remained glued there.

"Um..." she began softly, uneasily. "Listen, I made a mistake, al-"

"Yeah," he cut her off, his tone low. "A big mistake."

Jaelyn looked up at him finally and frowned. "But I wouldn't have had to do it if you'd just..."

She faltered and slowly shook her head out of frustration.

"What? _Feel_ something?" Bishop replied scornfully. "Well, I don't and I'm never going to. Get over it."

Jaelyn forced out a laugh and then paced across the room, his narrowed gaze following her every move. She gave him a look of indignation.

"We both know something happened. It may be nothing, or it may be everything, but at least I can admit it."

He scoffed and folded his arms-a sign of defense. "Say what you want. You're wrong. It was just a kiss, drow; it didn't mean anything."

Jaelyn sighed and shook her head, knowing that trying to get through to this pig-headed man was impossible. She might as well just give up. He was always going to refuse to admit it and he was always going to hide behind those walls. Let him then and the bastard could die alone for all she cared.

"You know what? You're right. What happened was nothing and it's not going to happen again." she replied, angrily. "So, I'm going to go have a look at this boat. If you want to get off this island, you'll come with me."

Jaelyn ignored his heated look as she spun on her heel and left.

**xxxxxxxxxx**

The trio marched at a quick pace through the undergrowth of the island forest, heading in a south-easterly direction where the golden rays of the mid-morning sun filtering in slightly at their backs through the limbs and foliage of the towering trees. It made the forest seem that much more like a paradise. Everything was a rich green, pleasing to the eyes and the entire forest was alive with an assortment of scents. The air was thick and humid, however, and the trio of two men and a female half-drow were already perspiring for only having traveled for an hour.

"How far is this boat?" Jaelyn asked in drow, matching her strides perfectly to the large man's ahead of her.

Grimnar walked at the front, eyes forward and a bitter expression on his face. He carried with him a long piece of wood, which was rounded at the end; bludgeoning was its intended use, and it was tied onto his leather, makeshift belt, hanging at his left hip. Jaelyn walked behind him and Bishop took up the rear, silently keeping an eye out for trouble.

"About seventy miles or something." Grimnar replied to her question in a gruff tone.

Jaelyn groaned. Seventy miles in the company of two surly men who weren't keen on her? She'd be lucky if she made it through the night.

"Walk fast and it won't take as long." the large man added at the sound of her displeasure. "Should reach it by nightfall."

"You've got a thing or two to learn about traveling long distances." she replied. "You don't want to walk fast or you'll tire quicker. Keep an even pace and we'll cover more ground."

"What do you know?" he shot back, insolently.

Jaelyn bit back a sarcastic remark.

"I'm a ranger; believe me, I know."

"I don't know what that is. Some kind of drow thing, probably." He waved a dismissive hand.

"No, it's not." she snapped. "It's what and who I am. Hunter, tracker, and protector of nature." Her voice became filled with pride towards the end of her sentence.

Grimnar finally looked over his shoulder at her, one thick, black brow raised. "A Guardian, then?"

Jaelyn blinked. "Huh?"

"Protectors of the island." he replied. "They're called Guardians, a highly respected position among our people. They do all those things you said. Hunt, track and protect, but they also keep balance on the island, make sure no animal populations get out of hand and they protect the endangered ones from predators. They used to go out in the forest a lot before the drow came. Now they rarely see it. If you're like a Guardian, why didn't you go on the ceremonial hunt with your friend there?"

He gestured a hand at Bishop, who shot him a suspicious look. The ranger hadn't been paying them much attention since they were talking in drow, but now that they seemed to be talking about him, he wanted to know what was being said.

"If you're going to talk in that drivel, the least you can do is translate so I know what in the hells is going on." he said with an unkind tone, which was obviously directed at the drow.

Grimnar stopped in his tracks and looked back again, giving the ranger that same suspicious look Bishop had given him.

"What's he saying?" he questioned in drow.

"He was just saying-" she began to reply but got cut off.

"What did he say?" the ranger demanded, eyeing the large man scornfully.

Jaelyn sighed and rubbed her forehead in frustration.

"This language barrier is a pain in the ass." she groaned in Draconian and then looked up between the two men to find them giving her exactly the same expression of puzzlement.

They both said "What?" in unison, but in separate languages.

Jaelyn smiled sheepishly and shook her head.

"It's not important." she said in drow and then in common. "Let's keep moving."

So, that's what they did. But while they walked, Grimnar carried on with the conversation, much to Bishop's ire.

"You didn't answer my question." he said. "Why didn't you go?"

"Because I earned the right to become a warrior...and maybe I wanted that more." she admitted.

"Why?"

"It was offered to me and I've never been offered a title of honor before. I was truly touched. Besides, to decline would've been an insult to your people."

Grimnar said nothing as he considered her words.

The rest of the day's travels were uneventful. They encountered no hostile creatures, despite Olland's warnings of the dangers that lurked in the region. Even Grimnar thought it was odd that they hadn't run across anything of harmful intent.

They made camp near a quiet stream and while Jaelyn stacked the wood for the campfire and Grimnar filled their canteens, Bishop strode off on his own.

Grimnar looked up as the man departed, brows furrowing and then he looked over at Jaelyn.

"Where's he going?"

She merely shrugged.

"It's not wise to go out there alone." Grimnar warned. "Especially not with your kind running about."

Jaelyn ignored his remark about 'her kind' and said "He knows what he's doing and he can take care of himself. Frankly, I don't really care where he's going. I just hope he doesn't come back."

She didn't mean this, of course; she was just very angry with him still and his stubborn refusal to admit the truth, a truth they both damn well knew. She couldn't figure out why he thought liking each other was such a terrible thing that he had to go and deny it, reject the hells out of it. If he didn't like her, he wouldn't have kissed her; at least, that was how she saw it.

Men were idiots.

No, that wasn't fair. Not all men were idiots. Akereth wasn't an idiot.

Men like Bishop were idiots, but thankfully, they were also a rare species.

"If you don't like him, why is he with you?"

It was a question Jaelyn had been asked many, many times.

She looked up at Grimnar with a faint, amused smile.

"Have you ever gotten something stuck on the bottom of your boots that you can never get rid of?"

Meanwhile, the ranger weaved through the woods in search of something edible. He found something else.

His keen eyes spotted nothing moving among the ground or in the trees and his sharp hearing noted no sounds out of the ordinary. His expedition took him about two miles from where they had made camp to a cliffy area. The ground was covered in bedrock and enormous boulders, probably the remnants of old cliff faces unable to stand the rigor and weight of time.

Bishop moved through the area in a silent, skulking gait, his bow in hand and an arrow already nocked. You could say this for the ranger, he was always prepared. But nothing could prepare him for what he was about to stumble upon.

He spotted a bunch of boulders all crowded around a large hole in the cliff's structure. He was going to ignore it, just pass it by; holes in cliffs weren't anything special, but then he heard the noise. It was a sort of drawn out, slithering sound.

The ranger crept low toward the boulders, despite his better judgment. As he crouched behind the large rocks, he heard that slithering noise again, this time being accompanied by the crunch and scrape of rock across a hard surface. There was definitely something inside that hole, he just didn't know what.

Cautiously, he peered over the top of the boulders and stared into the darkness of the cave before him. And that's all it was, just darkness. Then something moved and he could've sworn it was the dark itself that had made the shift. But he knew that was ridiculous. Darkness didn't move.

Whatever was in there, it was big. He couldn't actually see anything, but his other senses were well tuned to notice the threat. It sounded big, it smelled big, and he could feel a tiny vibration beneath his boots every time it moved.

Then he saw it, the menacing, glowing eyes. They were two pools of yellow light and they were looking right at him.

He ducked back down behind the boulder, but it was too late.

Bishop heard that slithering noise again, only it was much faster this time and the ground was trembling. Whatever it was, it was on the move, moving fast and in his direction.

He barely had enough time to dive away before the thing in the cave emerged. Unfortunately, he lost his bow and quiver of arrows in the escape. They were scattered on the ground near the boulders.

When the ranger gained his footing, he spun and faced what had been in the cave.

It was a twelve foot long, enormous serpent with the head of a human. It was as black as night, even the face, with a coiling body that could crush a giant to death. There was a long, pointed stinger at the end of its tail, the tip gleaming with venom.

Yep, this was just his kind of luck.

He glared at it, having no clue how in the hells he was going to kill it.

"Fuck me." Bishop swore, unhappily.

**xxxxxxxxxx**

Back at the camp, the fire was going and Jaelyn and Grimnar sat around it on their bed rolls in awkward silence.

Such a silence was typical between two people who had fought each other not a day ago, one of which had won and the other having been shamed in front of all his people.

Jaelyn had tried a few ice-breakers, such as asking how he was doing, or how he had enjoyed the feast, and even made comments about the weather. It didn't help. Each conversation reverted back to that awkward silence and now that Jaelyn had no other conversation-starters left, that unnerving quiet was all they had.

"Uh..." she said in a courageous effort to break it again and faltered.

Then she got an idea that should have came to her sooner. Jaelyn still had yet to eat anything and her stomach wasn't exactly happy with the neglect.

"I know!" she said loudly, hopping up from her bed roll.

Her sudden movement startled the large man, who shot up with her, his eyes wide.

"Let's go find something to eat." she went on.

Grimnar gave a grunt of approval. "Good idea. I haven't eaten since this morning."

"You're lucky; I haven't eaten since yesterday morning." she said. "You take the lead. You know this place better than I do. Besides, my companions and I can't find anything to eat out here other than pheasant-turkey and hare."

Grimnar had no idea what a pheasant-turkey was, but he understood hare and had never cared for it. It wasn't filling.

The large man nodded. "Follow me, then."

They both headed out into the wildwood, keeping aware of where they stepped to avoid treading on and killing any active plants.

"Can't find many animals where the trees are most alive." Grimnar explained as they strode on. "Animals don't like the trees, so they keep away from the 'alive' ones; that's probably why you can't find anything other than hare and...well, I don't know what that other you mentioned is."

"Well, we call it pheasant-turkey" Jaelyn said. "It's just a name I made up for the bird we keep finding. Looks like a turkey without the gizzard, but its the size of a pheasant."

"Oh, that's a tornis. Not good for eating; too stringy and dry for my tastes."

Jaelyn's stomach growled.

"I wouldn't complain if I had one right now." she said, rubbing her belly and then looking around, hoping to see a tornis waddle by.

No such luck.

They explored the surrounding area in a manner of fifteen minutes and found nothing of the animal kingdom, which Grimnar found to be strange. They did, however, find a blueberry bush. The island seemed to be stocked up on blueberries.

While Jaelyn knelt before one, picking off the berries and eating more than she was collecting for the both of them, Grimnar stood nearby, staring about the woods through slightly narrowed eyes.

"Odd." he commented. "No predators about and no prey, either. Something unusual going on here."

Jaelyn swallowed a blueberry. "In my experience, when there are no animals around, it's usually because something threatening has driven them off. Are there any large creatures in this area, maybe something that kills often?"

"No." Grimnar replied. "There was a pack of wolves, a growing family of bears, a small orangutan tribe, and plenty of other animals. The trees aren't that active here, so this is where most of the animals come to avoid them. For none to be here...it must be like you said. Something must have scared them all off."

And as if on cue, there was a loud crack in the distance and a thud that shook the ground.

Jaelyn stood up quickly, her berries falling at her feet as she stared off in alarm in the direction the noise was coming from.

"What in the hells was that?"

Grimnar was not aware of what hells were, but he knew what the sound was, mostly because he'd seen what had caused it even from this distance.

"A tree just fell." he stated, grimly.

They both exchanged a glance and then they were running toward the noise.


	17. Chapter 17: As If The Naga Wasn't Enough

**xxxxxx**

* * *

**Chapter Seventeen:**

**As If The Naga Wasn't Enough**

**xxxxxx**

**Bishop** had no time to wonder why there was a dark naga on the island, mostly because it was doing a hells of a fine job keeping his attention by trying to kill him.

Since he'd lost his arrows and bow and had yet to get within grabbing distance of them where they lay near the boulders in front of the naga's cave, he was forced into close combat, wielding a simple longsword against an enormous, human-faced snake with fangs large enough to sever limbs and a barbed tail ready to inject fatal venom. And to top it all off, the monstrous serpent had the ability to speak telepathically, and could apparently mind-read because every move Bishop made, the damn snake was always prepared for it and had a counter ready for him, which would have felled those with bad reflexes. He was lucky his were so good. He'd lost count of how many times the damn thing had narrowly left him a smear on the ground, or nearly squashed him into a tree, or came close to knocking his head off.

The naga's head shot out for him again, fangs snapping and barely missing his leg as he staggered away. He then had but a split second to throw himself to the ground as the naga performed a follow-up attack by swinging its barbed tail around at him.

How could something that godsdamned big move so godsdamned fast?

There was a loud snap, an ominous creak and then the ground trembled.

Bishop rolled away from the serpent and scrambled to his feet to see that the naga had felled a tree.

If it could do that to a tree, then he didn't even want to think about what it could've done to him.

The ranger was very aware of the fact that he may be fighting a losing battle. He'd fought and killed many things in his life, but nothing this big or this powerful before.

_This ought to teach you for being too curious for your own good._

The naga undulated toward him, hissing and telepathically speaking of the horrible death it planned on inflicting on him, going as far as to put detailed images of it in his mind.

He tried to shake them from his head, unsuccessfully, and wondered if fleeing would do him any good. How fast could this thing truly move? Would it be able to-

_You cannot flee, human. I will come down on you like an avalanche, crush the very life from you!_

That serpentine voice made him shudder in spite of himself.

Bishop gripped his sword tight, lifted it and sneered at the dark naga.

"Come on, then, you overgrown worm." he dared through his teeth. "Let's see what you've got."

Provoking the creature was probably not the best decision he could've made, but it beat running away and eventually being crushed into human jelly. If he was going to die regardless, then he was going to go out fighting, damn it.

The naga moved to strike out, as Bishop had expected it would and so he swung his sword to meet the attack, meaning to slice the thing's face open. The blade met no resistance and made a keen whooshing noise as it cut through thin air.

The naga's tail came around and struck him in the chest, lifting him off the ground and back several feet. His weapon went flying as well, far out of his reach. He landed hard and was unable to even groan in pain. It was like being hit in the the chest with a battering ram being driven by several giants. The force took his breath out and sent an angry shockwave of pain through his body that numbed all his senses. For several moments he couldn't move or breathe. His ears were ringing and his sight went dark for a brief, horrible moment before blurring back to normal again.

He could feel the vibration in the ground as the naga slithered toward him, coming to finish him off. And he was almost certain that that was going to happen. After everything he'd survived in life, of all the hell he'd gone through, he'd finally be taken down by an over-sized worm.

It was right above him now; he could see its hideous face, which peered down at him, the yellow, serpent eyes gleaming in grim satisfaction. Its mouth opened, the long, giant fangs promising demise. Its head reared back for the strike...

It screamed in pain, it's sinuous body writhing and then arching backwards. It slithered away from him to deal with this new threat and Bishop caught the sight of two arrows protruding from the back of its scaly neck.

He forced breath into his lungs, which felt ready to burst, and they burned from the desperate and forceful intake of oxygen. His chest was throbbing powerfully from the naga's hit, but all his senses were functioning once again.

Now he needed to get up and find his sword.

Slowly and in complete agony, he rose to his feet, clutching his chest and looked over to see that Grimnar fellow dodging attacks from the naga and not doing too bad at it. Arrows were flying out of a nearby tree and striking into strategic places on the serpent's body.

The drow liked shooting from the trees for some reason he couldn't figure out. Maybe it gave her a better vantage point.

She'd saved his life for the second time. That naga could have killed him; it almost had.

"Are you all right?" came Jaelyn's voice from the tree.

He knew the question was directed at him.

"Perfect." he called back, sarcastically. "See a sword laying around anywhere?"

"Yes," she replied. "It's under my tree."

Three arrows shot out this time, one right after the other. The naga screamed again, but it kept its attention on Grimnar still.

Bishop took his chance and hurried over to the tree he heard the drow's voice coming from. His sword was near the trunk, sticking out of the ground.

Once he yanked it out, he spared a look up into the branches and she was smiling down at him.

"I see you've made a new friend." she joked, but he failed to find any humor in this.

"Just shut up and let's kill the damn thing before it kills us." he retorted, irritably.

She merely rolled her eyes and set her sights back on the naga, aiming her bow between the branches again and letting off a duo of arrows.

This time one of them went into the naga's jaw while the other struck its sinuous neck. Its upper portion was filled with several arrows, but Jaelyn had yet to inflict a dire wound. She needed a good eye shot, but with the serpent turned away from her...

The ranger was making his way toward the naga, but Jaelyn dropped out of the tree, landed quietly on the ground and caught him up.

He frowned at her impeding him, but allowed her to pull him over to the tree nonetheless. She leaned in and began whispering instructions to him, which he immediately rejected.

"I am not baiting that thing." he said severely.

Jaelyn set him with a stern look. "Then can you make the shot? It has to be taken from the tree. The angle is bad from the ground."

Bishop had never shot from a tree before but he wasn't above trying it. Besides, if it didn't work or if he missed, the thing would go after either the drow or the native first, which would give him enough time to escape. So, it worked out for him.

"Who do you think you're talking to, drow?" he replied. "That shot'll be nothing."

Jaelyn looked at him for a long moment and then nodded. "All right. I'm trusting you to do this."

She pushed her bow and a few arrows into his hands and then took his sword, though admittedly, she didn't know how to use it. Her training had mostly been with the bow and only a little bit of hand to hand to get by on.

While the ranger climbed up into the tree, Jaelyn jogged her way over behind the naga.

Grimnar was crouched behind a boulder, trying to keep from being eaten by the enormous snake and so far having a bit of luck at it. He had his club out, not that the paltry weapon was going to do him any good in this situation. But it really didn't matter. The naga was about to be Jaelyn's problem.

The drow gave a loud whistle and then thrust the sword at the naga's tail. It cut into the scales and bit into flesh, drawing oozing black blood and an enraged cry. It's entire body swung around so that its head faced her.

It struck without hesitation and Jaelyn ducked, barely missing the fangs. An arrow then came shooting out of the tree and struck the naga in the throat. It was a missed shot. The only way the thing could be killed would be through the eye where the arrow could pierce into the brain. The scales were too tough against arrows. They stuck in, but they did little damage.

The tail came around and knocked her on her back, but she kept hold of the sword. The stinger at the end of the naga's tail stabbed down at her and Jaelyn let out an alarmed cry as she threw the sword up horizontally to ward the attack off. The stinger struck the blade and she pressed the plam of her free hand to the pointed end of the sword to balance the blade out and force the poisonous barb back, but it was useless. Her strength was nothing compared to the naga's.

Another arrow came out. Miss. She heard a growled oath.

The stinger closed in and Jaelyn pushed back with all her might, staring at the venomously dripping point. Fear instituted itself inside her, making her mind grow cold with realization and making her heart pound in anxiety.

"Bishop!"

There was desperation and a deep plea in her tone. If he didn't shoot the damn thing in the eye, she was through. A horrid thought from the depths of her mind made itself known.

_This is what he wants. He's trying to get me killed, trying to get me back for tricking him._

Behind the naga crept Grimnar, his club out. When he reached the coiling body, he leaped up onto it and hurried up toward the head, jumping over the coils agilely to land just at the naga's neck, using Jaelyn's arrows to keep himself steady. He then proceeded to beat at the naga's head with his club, mustering all the strength his warrior body possessed.

The serpent flailed about madly, but Grimnar held on. The barbed tail swung back around and then rose up, threateningly at Grimnar's back.

Jaelyn knew what it meant to do and an idea formed immediately in her head. She just had to wait for the right moment and trust that Grimnar would listen to her.

The large native man continued to beat at the naga's head, which was slowly starting to bleed black blood. The serpents' upper body was flailing still in an effort to dislodge Grimnar, but its barbed tail remained poised.

Jaelyn waited. In the tree behind her, Bishop waited as well, bow aimed, arrow nocked.

Finally, the naga paused in its violent thrashings and the stinger drew back a bit before thrusting itself forward at the native man.

"Duck, Grimnar!" Jaelyn commanded in drow.

To her great relief, Grimnar listened and he narrowly missed being impaled. The stinger lodged itself into the back of the naga's head and at the same time this was happening, an arrow was loosed and struck home in the serpent's left eye, which gushed black ooze.

Grimnar slid down from the serpent and hurried over to Jaelyn to avoid being crushed in its death throes.

The naga screamed in agony, writhed and arched and finally slipped to the ground where it lay still.

Jaelyn and Grimnar kept their distance of it while they looked down at the great black coiling body with grim expressions. Bishop slipped out of the tree and strode over to join them, keeping a cautious eye on the serpent in case it was shamming.

"Well, that was...interesting." he commented.

Jaelyn shot him a glare. "Indeed. I thought you said you could make that shot?"

He sent the glare right back. "I made it, didn't I?"

"Only after it nearly killed me!" she shouted at him in fury. "But maybe that's what you were going for. Go on and admit it. You were trying to get me killed!"

He laughed evilly. "Trust me, drow, if I wanted you dead, I'd do it myself."

She believed that.

Before she could make some smart reply, Bishop handed her bow back and snatched his sword away from her before striding off toward the cave.

"What was that about?" Grimnar inquired in drow, watching the ranger collect his scattered arrows and his fallen bow.

Jaelyn sighed heavily. "Nothing." And then she followed after him.

Grimnar stood there for a moment, looking down at the dead serpent, wondering what it actually was; he'd never seen the likes of it before in his life, and then he joined the two rangers where they stood atop the boulders at the mouth of the cave.

"Do we really want to go in there?" Jaelyn inquired. "Isn't that where that monster came from?"

Bishop shrugged. "Yeah, but if there were more, we'd have faced them already."

She peered into the darkness with a frown. "Then why even bother?"

The ranger looked at her incredulously. "You obviously don't know what a dark naga is."

She shrugged. "I've only seen a picture of one in an outdated Monster Manual. And, as we've just learned, you can only kill one by shooting it through the eye with an arrow or making it stab itself in the head with its own stinger."

"I'm surprised you even thought to do that." he replied with genuine astonishment.

"Thank you." she shot back, her tone acidic.

"Anyway, they hoard treasure."

Jaelyn lifted a brow. "How do they even collect it?"

"The only way they know how. They consume their victims and then regurgitate it." he explained. "They have some kind of organ where they store the stuff until they can spit it out later."

"That's disgusting."

"I don't give a damn if it comes out of the other end if it'll make me rich."

Jaelyn shook her head at him in exasperation. "I really don't see the point. I mean, if the naga takes the valuables off its victims, then you're not going to find much. The only thing it could've killed around here is natives, animals or drow, all of which have not a copper to their names."

Bishop shrugged. "Won't hurt to look."

"Well, we're going to need light. At least, you two are."

Grimnar tapped her on the shoulder. "What's happening?"

"We're going to check out the cave for treasure." she said to him in drow. "But we need light first."

Grimnar smiled and began sorting through a small pack on his hip. He produced a milky egg-shaped stone.

"This should do."

"What is it?"

His smile widened into a grin. "A gift to our people from the island."

Grimnar rubbed the stone between his hands and it began to glow and fill with white light. They all looked at it for a moment, watching the light get brighter and brighter until they had to look away. Grimnar then handed it to Jaelyn.

"Be careful with it and I want it back when you're done."

Jaelyn inclined her head and held the stone out in front of her like a torch as she stepped into the cave. The other two followed close behind.

The cave was small, but long. It stretched out from the entrance and wound a few times until it came to a back chamber.

Jaelyn was more than a little surprised to find the ground littered with bones, as well as rusted weapons and broken and dented armor.

"This is a little odd." she said. "Where did these bones come from?"

"People." replied the ranger.

Jaelyn shot him a look and he smiled at her, obviously pleased with himself.

"You asked."

"Don't be a wise-ass, Bishop. That wasn't what I meant."

"I don't care what you meant, just keep moving."

They rounded another corner and came to the back chamber, which gleamed in the stone's light, washing the cave walls and the faces of the trio in a bright golden glow.

Mouths dropped open.

"Holy-" Bishop began.

"Shit." Jaelyn finished.

There was another tap on her shoulder, but it took Jaelyn a moment to look away from the spectacle before her to put her attention on Grimnar.

"What is this?" he asked.

"A fortune." she replied in drow. "No, more than a fortune. This could be a fortune for a city."

There was a large mound of gold, gems, and other valuables sitting in the middle of the chamber, shining gloriously.

She closed her eyes a moment, deciding that she must be hallucinating, but when she opened them the gold still remained. In any case, hallucinations were generally not shared.

Jaelyn looked over at Bishop to see a strange glitter in his eye, something she'd never seen there before. It almost looked like moisture. Surely not...

He grabbed the stone from her yielding hand and approached the mound.

"Gods..."

"How in the hells is this here?" Jaelyn wondered aloud.

"Who gives a damn? It's here; that's all that matters. Focus on more important things, like how we're going to get it all out."

"Don't be insane. We can't get all of this stuff out." she replied. "It would be pointless, anyway, since we could never get it all back to the mainland."

Bishop spared her a quick glance before his gaze was drawn back to the mountainous fortune at his feet.

"Why not?"

"Well, we've no place to put it, do we?"

"The boat?" he reminded her.

She shook her head. "Even if we could get it fixed, we couldn't carry this much gold and stuff on it. It would sink!"

Bishop knew she was right, but he just didn't want to leave it all here. He'd never seen this much gold in his life; leaving it behind would be a crime.

Jaelyn spotted something among the mountains of jewelry, gems, gold, gold and silver objects, and even a few ancient-looking tomes.

It was a large ruby, nearly the size of her entire palm.

She bent and picked it up, raising it to eye level to peer through it with a grin.

"I bet Quin might like this."

"Why bother?" Bishop replied, callously. "No point wasting it on the dead."

The large gem dropped with a clink onto the gold and then a loud smack resounded in the chamber. Bishop sported a brand new, bright red hand print on one cheek while Jaelyn glared hatefully at him, her hands clenched into fists at her sides.

"How _dare_ you!"

She spun away and stormed off.

Grimnar looked between the furiously departing drow and the seething man, frowned and then strode off after Jaelyn.

Rubbing his throbbing cheek, Bishop perched himself on the mounds of gold and lifted the large ruby the drow had dropped, turning it over in his hands and admiring its beauty and rarity. He doubted you'd find a ruby that big anywhere and he wondered how much it could fetch.

**xxxxxxxxxx**

She sat before the campfire on her bed roll, knees drawn up to her chest, her elbows resting on them while she buried her face in her palms. She tried not to cry, but she couldn't help it. What he had said was mean and it hurt. But, she couldn't deny that she had not thought it once or twice as well. The drow rarely kept prisoners alive unless they could be made useful. There was a good chance that Quin was dead. But it was just the way Bishop had said it, so nonchalant, so emotionless, like it didn't even matter if Quin was gone or not. The halfling didn't matter to Bishop, but he sure as the hells mattered to her and she wasn't about to let the ranger's cold and blunt comment pass.

She'd slapped him. She couldn't believe it. There were times when she'd put a knife to his throat, but they both knew she was never going to use it. There were times when she'd tried to hit him and had gotten thwarted, and there were times where she'd playfully hit him, but actually striking him out of anger and succeeding at it...well, she was a bit surprised. He must've been, too. He had never seen it coming, otherwise he would've stopped her. What was he going to do with her once that surprise was evicted and the anger made itself at home?

Grimnar entered their camp tentatively, seeing that the drow was very upset. He'd never been good around crying women; he never knew what to do to ease them. He could never comfort his wife appropriately, not even when her father died. He'd just stood there like an idiot.

He was doing that now, fiddling with the club on his belt with a frown on his face. He didn't even know why she was upset. They were talking in that language he didn't understand and then she slapped him. He must've said something wrong. But then it was hard to tell with women. You could say 'good morning' to them on a bad day and get slapped like that.

Grimnar cleared his throat loudly and Jaelyn looked up from her palms, her cheeks wet.

"Uh..." he said and Jaelyn smiled faintly, giving her head a small shake.

"It's all right." she assured him in the language of the drow.

Grimnar frowned. "What did he say?"

She sighed and bit her lip for a moment to keep from crying again.

"He more or less said in a very cold manner that my friend is dead." she said after a moment. "He was captured by the drow a few days ago."

The large man looked at her, stricken. He had never considered the possibility of her being affected by her own people.

He nodded, solemnly. "Do you think he is?"

"I don't know. Sometimes I think he might be dead, too, but other times, I have this strong feeling that he's alive. If...If he dies or if he's already dead, it'll be my fault."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because I didn't...I could've saved him and I didn't."

"You tried, though?"

She nodded.

"All we can do is try."

"Akereth says we must do, not just try."

Grimnar grunted and shook his head. "He's always going on about that doing and trying nonsense. Sometimes all one can do is try and that has to be good enough. We can't do everything successfully."

Jaelyn gazed down into the weakening fire and poked it with a stick.

"Listen, I'll go see if I can't find something for us all to eat." Grimnar offered.

She only nodded.

Grimnar departed for the forest depths.

Some moments later, Bishop found his way back to camp.

Jaelyn heard him coming from a mile away. He was jingling.

She didn't bother to look up, only remained poking the fire, a frown deepening on her face at his presence.

He strode over to his bedroll, bulging from every pocket and pouch on his person. Sitting down became a chore, for many of the bulges limited bending in certain places. When he was settled, he emptied all his pockets except for one and placed the gold and gems in his pack, which he'd left behind earlier.

Jaelyn looked over at him, unable to contain her anger.

"I hope it destroys you, I really do."

He scoffed, indignantly. "Why? Because I wasn't going to lie to you and tell you there's a good chance he's still alive?"

She glared at him, but said nothing. He was right, after all, but the last thing she was going to do was admit it.

"You want me to lie to you? I can do that if that's what you really want."

"When have you ever cared what someone else wants?"

He shrugged. "Never, but if it'll get you to stop bitching..."

"Go to the hells."

He laughed briefly. "Already there, darling. You did a fine job of making it for me."

"You do a fine job of making it for yourself." she retorted.

"Oh, I don't know. I'm content when I'm not around you."

"Then leave. I won't miss you."

"Leave? Nah. Despite how much you make me want to kill you, you're making me rich. After all, if I hadn't come with you today, I wouldn't have found all that treasure."

Jaelyn didn't reply. What was the godsdamned point?

Some time later, Grimnar returned with two dead hares. Jaelyn made a face at them, but it was better than nothing, especially when you hadn't eaten in nearly two days. She was starving.

Though Grimnar knew a crude process of skinning and gutting an animal, Bishop took it upon himself to do it, muttering under his breath about idiot natives not knowing how to do anything right. Once the process was done, the hares were placed on a stick over the fire. It wasn't long before the maddening aroma of cooking meat filled their camp and Jaelyn was nearly tempted to just eat it like it was, half-cooked. The ranger sprinkled some kind of ground up leaves from a pouch over the roasting hares. The first time she had seen him do this a while back, she had been wary, wondering what exactly it was he was putting on them. Knowing him, it could've been poison or something, but he'd assured both her and Quin that it was fine by tasting it first. Apparently, it was some kind of assortment of herbs he'd concocted that gave meat an intense, heavenly taste. If Jaelyn could say one good thing about Bishop, it was that the man could cook for a king. If he'd become a chef, he would probably have been famous.

Funny where the road leads you. But then was it truly where the road led you, or was it a path you chose to take? In her experience, it was a combination of both. More often than not, you had a choice, but sometimes the path was already made for you and you had to go along with what life had planned for you. She had a feeling that Bishop being a ranger had never been a choice. Like her, it was just what he was, what life had molded him into. The question she sought was whether life had made him the unfeeling, cold thing that he was, or if it was a choice he had made a long time ago.

Why was she thinking about this now when only moments ago, she was hating him? That was one of many things she found irritating about him. His behavior, particularly his cruelty, made her think and wonder.

They ate in silence and Jaelyn continued her wondering.

**xxxxxxxxxx**

When night was forced out of the firmament by the purplish-gray hues of dawn, Jaelyn awoke to find that, as usual, she was second to rise.

She sat up, stretched with a yawn and peered across the camp to find that the spot that was supposed to be occupied by everyone's favorite ranger was in fact quite bare, while the other side of the camp yielded a large, snoring native man.

Jaelyn stood up and quietly began rolling up her bed roll and packing her belongings for when they departed from the camp.

She was just taking a drink from her canteen when a voice suddenly spoke from behind her.

"Drow."

Jaelyn nearly choked on her water in surprise. She spun around and faced Bishop. She rolled her eyes in exasperation and swallowed her mouth full of water.

"Stop doing that!" she hissed at him, trying to keep her voice low so as not to wake Grimnar.

She was given an expression of impatience.

"Never mind." he replied, dismissively. "Come on, there's something you should see."

"Now?" she inquired, cautiously.

"No, I came back to tell you all this so I could show you later." he said sarcastically. "Yes, now."

She sighed. "All right."

But she took her dagger with her just in case. One could never be too safe around him, and she was highly suspicious of what he was planning on showing her, especially after she'd smacked him. This could be revenge.

He led her quite a ways from their camp, passing even the naga cave until they finally reached a small little stream cutting fearlessly through the forest floor, snaking its way south.

Bishop pointed wordlessly at the bank on their side.

Jaelyn looked and saw four different sets of light, booted tracks. She bent down to examine them more closely.

They were fresh, almost brand new, had probably been made in the early hours of the morning. They came directly from the east, crossed the stream and continued on down along their side of the bank, heading south with the stream.

Due to the fact that the tracks were light and booted, they could've only come from the drow. The native's didn't wear boots, they wore some kind of leather moccasins. Besides, the natives were bigger than the drow, even the women. The tracks would've been deeper. No, these were drow and the fact that they were this close to their camp gave Jaelyn an unpleasant jolt.

"They could've-"

"Slaughtered us in our sleep?" Bishop finished her thought. "Yeah, that's what I thought when I saw them."

Jaelyn frowned. "They must've seen us. We drow have excellent night vision; we can see heat color. So, why didn't they attack?"

"They're following the stream, moving in the same direction as us." Bishop said. "Eventually it'll take them to the shore line. They know we're after that boat."

Jaelyn stood and looked at him. "How?"

He shrugged. "Probably were in the area for whatever reason and saw us. Must've figured it out. They know it's the only thing here. They're there now, no doubt, probably setting a trap for us."

"None of this makes any sense. Why didn't they just kill us at camp if they knew we were after the boat?"

"If they think we can be made useful, they'll spare us." he said. "They probably think they're going to surprise us at the shore, or maybe they'll even try it in the woods before we reach the shore. Doesn't matter. It's not going to work."

Jaelyn smiled faintly. "You got a plan, ranger?"

He smirked. "I'm working on it. We need to get closer to the shore, though. Something tells me that's where they'll be waiting for us."

"Right. I have a good feeling about this. You found the tracks before we fell into their trap and we have daylight to our advantage. No matter how long they've been here, drow from the Underdark never truly get used to the surface light. Come on!"

They returned to camp and Jaelyn immediately began trying to wake Grimnar up, which wasn't an easy task. The large man slept like a rock, but after about four times of Jaelyn shaking him violently, he finally groaned into consciousness.

He muttered something groggily in his native language and slowly opened his blue eyes a crack to peer at her.

"Whad'ya want?" he yawned in drow.

"It's time to get up." Jaelyn replied. "Come on, we've got to get moving. There were drow around here early this morning."

Her words immediately sobered his fatigue. Those blue eyes widened.

"Here? But-"

Jaelyn cut him off. "We found their tracks. They're heading south; it looks like they're out here for the same reason we are."

"For the boat? Why? That doesn't make any sense. They don't need it."

"No, but we do. Maybe they know that. I don't know if that's what brought them out here or not, but they know we're here now. They must know."

"So, what're we going to do now, then? If they know we're heading for the boat, then they're going to be waiting for us."

"We're going to go there and take care of them, that's what we're going to do." Jaelyn replied firmly. "They'll be waiting to ambush us, so we need to figure out how to prevent this. To do that, we need to know where they are, where they're positioned. Once we're close to the shore, one of us will scout the area. Then we'll devise a plan."

"You done this before?"

She shook her head and nodded toward Bishop. "No, but I'm sure he has. Excuse me a moment."

Jaelyn stood up from her knelt position and approached the ranger, who stood off to the side, looking out into the silent forest.

"So, should we follow the tracks or let Grimnar continue to lead us to the shoreline?"

"I don't think it matters." he replied without looking at her.

"Why not?"

"We're all heading in the same direction." he said with the haughty tone one might use when speaking to someone of lower intelligence. "As long as we avoid falling into their trap, it doesn't matter which route we take. Let the barbarian keep leading for now. Just tell him that we need to stop within five miles of that shore, understand?"

"Yes, sir." she replied, mockingly and then stepped away back to Grimnar, missing the nasty look he gave her.

"Okay, so how much further is the shore?" she asked to the native.

"About twenty miles." he replied. "Why?"

"You're still going to guide us to the boat, but we need to stop when we're within five miles of it, okay?"

Grimnar looked up at her, nodded, and then climbed to his feet. He then rolled up the tattered, leather pad he used as a bed roll, tucking it away into his worn leather satchel.

"Well, I'm ready when the both of you are."

So, they continued on.

Grimnar lead them as he had before, keeping track of the miles they covered. The two rangers followed, but now they were more cautious than before, keeping their attentions focused solely on their surroundings and not allowing for their minds to wander. The caution had never been needed before; the woods were as peaceful as any either had ever known and the threat of the drow was slim. The only dangers had been sentient trees and maybe a few wild animals; nothing they couldn't handle once they got used to it. The dark elves had not been seen this far from the village, so it was assumed to be a drow-free region, but that was apparently no longer the case.

They traveled well into the morning and there was a great deal of silence between them. No one spoke and no one even dared to glance at the other. That was, until Grimnar's pace slowed and then stopped altogether.

"This is it." he announced to Jaelyn, who was the only one who could understand him. "Five miles left."

She nodded and glanced at the ranger.

"This is the mark you asked for. Five miles left."

He only nodded and took a quick drink from his canteen, eying the remainder of the path ahead. He then unburdened himself of his pack, which probably weighed a good fifteen pounds due to all the gold and jewels he was carrying and then set his gaze on the drow.

"I'll scout ahead. Stay here and try not to do anything stupid, like follow me." he said to her in a condescending tone. "Two people are more likely to be seen."

"All right."

"I mean it." he went on, sternly, not trusting her. "If I catch you following me, you're going to be sorry. That goes for the barbarian as well. The last thing we need is for one of us to be seen by one of them."

Jaelyn sneered at him, hands finding her hips. "And what if _you're_ seen?"

Bishop was unable to suppress a smirk. She really did look evil with a sneer, deliciously evil. She had no idea how attractive she was to him when she had that expression on her face.

"I won't be."

She rolled her eyes and sighed as he turned away and strode on along the path they had been on. She then looked at Grimnar, who met her gaze.

"I guess we just wait, then."

Grimnar sat down on a fallen log. "I hate waiting. Why couldn't we just go with him?"

"Easier to be seen is what he said." she replied. "I hate to agree, but I do."

The two sat in silence, awaiting the ranger's return.

Meanwhile, Bishop picked his way stealthily through the woods, keeping low and using trees as cover. It was obvious that the sea was close; the air held the scent of salt water.

He covered two miles when he finally found them. Due to his earlier experiences with the drow on this island, he knew now to check the trees for them, and sure enough that was how he found the first two.

He kept silent and still behind the trunk of a tree, peering around it to see one drow perched high up in the branches of a tree some two hundred yards away. He wielded a bow, as did another drow in a tree about a hundred yards across from the other. A third drow was on the ground with a long sword in one hand and a short sword in the other, patrolling the area. He was also armed with a bow. The tracks Bishop had found earlier showed four different drow. Where the fourth was now, he had no clue. Perhaps keeping guard at the shore, or out in the woods somewhere serving as a scout.

It was a shame he didn't have his animal companion around. The wolf would've come in handy here. He could've sent him out to do some close scouting and then the information could be received through the close bond they shared.

So far the drow had not noticed him yet, but if he was right about the fourth drow, then the longer he stayed there, the more likely he would get caught, if he hadn't already. He hoped the fourth drow wasn't hiding out somewhere nearby. The idea of that one being missing really bothered him.

Bishop saw what he needed to see; it was time to leave.

He backed away from the scene quietly and then slunk off in the direction he'd come, casting a quick, cautious look back to make sure he wasn't being followed.

When he made it back to the other two sometime later, Jaelyn was the first to greet him, standing from the fallen log where she had been sitting beside the native.

"Well?"

"They're waiting for us, all right." he said as he strode over to his pack, lifted it and pulled the strap across his chest. "Two of them hiding in the trees and another patrolling on foot. I didn't see the fourth; I don't like that. My guess is that one is serving as a scout."

Jaelyn sighed. As if the naga wasn't enough, now they were looking at fighting these drow. She supposed it would've come to that anyway.

"And were you seen?"

"No," he replied rather uncertainly. "I mean, I don't know. If the fourth was out scouting and saw me, then chances are I would've seen him, too. If not, he would've at least alerted his friends to my presence."

"So, you don't know for sure?"

He shrugged. "I don't think I was."

Jaelyn nodded with a small sigh. "That'll have to be good enough, I guess. So, what's the plan?"

"Simple. The two drow in the trees are armed with bows. I take one and you take the other. The barbarian will have to deal with the guy on foot. That one's armed with swords and a bow, so your friend is going to need a lot of luck to survive that one. Then we have to pray the fourth doesn't turn up at the wrong moment."

Jaelyn shook her head, her rejection making a scowl form itself on Bishop's face.

"What?"

"I think we should leave Grimnar out of the fight." she said.

"Why?"

Jaelyn didn't miss the irritation in his voice.

"Well, we want to surprise the drow, right? Grimnar's not exactly an expert in the stealth department. The drow will hear him coming a mile away."

Bishop considered this. "Fine. Can you take the third one down before he gets off his shots?"

She smiled. "We both can. We need to time our shots and make them count. If we can kill the two drow in the trees at the same time, then we'll have a better chance at killing the one on foot with two arrows."

"And what if the fourth shows up?"

Jaelyn mulled it over for a minute. "We can bring Grimnar with us, but have him wait a ways behind us. Maybe half a mile back. If the fourth comes, we can call on him to aid us."

He was a bit surprised, he had to admit. It wasn't that bad of a plan, coming from her. It might even work.

"All right," he conceded. "We'll do it your way. If we're lucky enough, maybe that fourth drow will find your barbarian friend first."

Jaelyn glared at him. "Gods, you are such an asshole."

He laughed. "We could also use him as bait...or better yet, as a shield."

Jaelyn ignored him, knowing he was just trying to get a rise out of her and then turned toward Grimnar to explain what they were going to do. The native argued his position in the plan for several minutes, but Jaelyn finally got him to agree to it. They then made their way onward to the shore and to the drow waiting for them.

It didn't take long to reach the half a mile mark, where Grimnar took up his position. Jaelyn told him to stay alert and to listen for either her or Bishop's voice if they needed his help.

She and the ranger then unloaded themselves of everything but their weapons, argued colorfully for about ten minutes on how to time their shots until they could finally agree on a simple rhythm count, where they argued once again on how it should be counted. Finally, after a good deal of swearing (on the ranger's part) and a lot of angry huffing(on the drow's part), they came to an agreement and continued on along the path Bishop had taken earlier, their steps equally silent.

When they got to the area, they both crouched behind a tree together. They exchanged a glance and Bishop put a finger to his lips. Jaelyn replied silently by rolling her eyes and nodding. He made a small gesture with his head that told her to look over that way and when she did, peering around him and the tree, she saw the two drow perched in their trees and the third on the ground, looking particularly bored on patrol. The fourth was still no where to be seen.

They exchanged a look, a nod and then took up their positions. Jaelyn took left and Bishop went right, and there was a good one hundred yards between them, same as the distance between the two drow in their trees. They both kept to the inside flank of the tree. Their bows were drawn, an arrow was nocked and aimed, and then they checked the other to make sure they were ready. When two nods were issued, the count was made.

The two arrows were shot simultaneously and in perfect harmony and they wasted no time setting up the next shot, while about two hundred yards ahead two drow fell dead. The third turned this way and that in confusion, trying to figure out what in the hells had just happened. The two rangers quickly took advantage of his discombobulation by putting two arrows in his body, one in the head the other in his neck. He fell dead without a sound.

The fight wasn't over yet.

The moment Jaelyn moved away from her tree and turned to Bishop for a little congratulatory job well done, he was barreling on her with his sword drawn, a look of utmost hatred on his face.

She had a moment to think _so, this is how he gets revenge_, before she dived out of his path.

A good thing, too, or she might have been impaled by the drow closing in silently behind her.

Jaelyn rolled over to see the ranger and the fourth drow come together in a vigorous clang of metal. Sparks flew harmlessly around the two warriors.

While they fought, Jaelyn scrambled to her feet and grabbed her bow and a couple of arrows from the ground where they'd fallen when she took her dive. She put one arrow in her mouth, being sure to keep it out of the way of her bow and nocked the other. This was going to be a hard shot with the two of them fighting. She had a real good chance of hitting Bishop, and though it was a little tempting, she probably wouldn't live long to savor the pleasure, anyway.

She steadied the shot, but they wouldn't quit moving around. Sweat dripped off her brow and she wiped her forehead on her arm.

She was a little impressed. The drow was good, she'd never seen sword work so good before, but Bishop was keeping up with his every move. Admittedly, most of them were defensive, but his parries, blocks and dodges were timed perfectly and he even got in a counter a few times.

When the drow broke through the ranger's defense long enough to kick him backwards, Jaelyn had thought this was it. She pulled the string of her bow back and then she was suddenly looking into the back of Bishop's head. She let out a gasp and jerked her arm aside just as the arrow was loosed. Instead of going into his head, it nicked his cheek. He didn't seem to notice.

Good, she didn't want to have to explain that one. That was too close for comfort.

Jaelyn took the arrow out of her mouth, nocked it, aimed and waited.

The two males clanged, grunted and swore at each other. One sword whirled in gracefully for an attack, while another swung up with as much force as possible to block it and maybe disarm his opponent. The male drow was smiling, Bishop was not. In fact, he was beyond frustrated. The drow's attacks were not slowing and he didn't even appear to be tired yet. And he was only getting faster in his execution.

But Jaelyn was about to take care of that.

She was waiting for any part of the drow's body to enter her line of sight and once it did, an arrow was going into it.

For once, luck was on their side. That part just happened to be a leg.

The arrow whistled happily through the air and lodged itself into the drow's calf, flooring him instantly. Bishop's sword went back for the killing blow when the fallen drow, gasping in pain, shouted something.

It didn't stop the ranger, but lucky for the drow, Jaelyn did. She caught his sword hand and at the same time she kicked the drow's sword away out of his reach.

"He yields."

"Like I care." Bishop replied, angrily, trying to jerk back to finish the job.

"You can't kill him if he's begging for his life." she said sternly.

"Wanna bet?"

She moved in front of the drow, protectively. Behind her, the drow looked up at Jaelyn in astonishment. One of the most followed rules of the Underdark was never to turn one's back on another drow, literally, or one would likely find a dagger in it.

"I won't let you."

"Get out of the way, drow." Bishop warned in a low, dangerous tone. "Or I'll gut you along with him."

She crossed her arms over her chest, stubbornly and stared, with utter defiance, into his eyes. "I'm not moving. So, if you want to gut me, go on and do it."

_You're out of your mind, testing him again, _said a voice in her head._ He's going to kill you. Get out of the way, idiot!_

But she held her ground, valiantly.

He tested her courage, bringing his sword up swiftly against her throat. She didn't budge; she didn't even flinch. He had expected her to at least parry him somehow or jump out of the way. She did neither. She'd risk death to save that drow's life? It made no sense.

He scoffed indignantly, dropping the point of his weapon from her neck, even though he was beginning to think it might be better if he just killed her.

"Why do you even bother?"

"Because no one else will." she replied, firmly. "No one has even tried! Everyone thinks they should all just be killed off; no one even bothers to wonder if some of the drow might be forced into their situation, that they have no choice but to follow Dresmor and do what he says."

"Were you even there when they attacked that village?" Bishop replied, almost furious with her. "They didn't hesitate to kill those unarmed cowards. In fact, it looked to me like they were enjoying it. Those drow killed because that was what they wanted to do. It was their choice."

"And like I said," she replied. "For some, it may not be a choice."

"You can't save them all."

"Maybe not," she conceded. "But I can save the ones that want to be saved. Besides, having a drow prisoner may come in handy. We can question him about what they're up to."

"Fine." Bishop resigned, bitterly. "Do what you want, but I suggest you tie him up. I particularly don't want to be stabbed in my sleep."

He turned away, heading along that southerly route toward the shore, which was still about three miles away.

Jaelyn bent down to the drow with her dagger out. He looked at it and began trying to move away.

"It's all right." she said in their language. "I'm not going to hurt you."

The male drow eyed her suspiciously. He had nice features compared to the only other drow she'd met on the island, the one Feral had mauled. His white hair was short and unkempt and he had crimson eyes.

"Who are you? You're drow, but you're not one of us."

"My name is Jaelyn." she replied. "I am only half-drow. I was born on the surface."

"Why have you spared me?"

"Because you yielded."

"So? Our kind isn't known for mercy."

"Well, I'm nothing like the drow of the Underdark."

"Indeed." he replied with a sneer. "You're an abomination."

Jaelyn glared at him. "And you just yielded your life to an abomination. What does that say about you?"

She used her dagger to cut into the leg of his leather trousers, the one where his injury was. She cut off a bunch of long strips from the pants and began tying the drow up with them, securing his hands behind his back. She then began to work on the injury.

When she yanked the arrow out, he groaned, gritting his teeth in pain while holding a hand to his leg. She didn't have any healing potion or any other form of healing remedy, so she just bound the wound with what was left of the leather strips.

She then called loudly for Grimnar.

A few moments later, the large native man came rushing through the woods, his gaze falling first on the injured drow and then to Jaelyn.

"I want you to stay here with him," she said to him. "While I go check out the boat, all right?"

Grimnar's gaze went back to the drow. There was a slight sneer on his face that Jaelyn paid no heed to as she got to her feet.

"I'll watch him." Grimnar replied, hollowly.

"Good. Thank you. We shouldn't be gone long."

With that, she hurried off in the direction Bishop had gone, leaving Grimnar alone with the drow.

The drow grinned up at the tall native man, hatefully. "Your people are going to die."

Grimnar grinned back and it was less pleasant than the drow's, as he closed in. "Not if yours dies first."

Meanwhile, Jaelyn ran through the woods, enjoying the breeze while she had it and finally met up with the ranger about half way.

After what seemed like forever since they'd left the village, they finally came to the shoreline and the boat that might get them off that island.

They stood just at the edge of the forest where it gradually gave off to the sandy shore, staring in shock at what lay before them.

The water was moving horizontally to the shore instead of onto it like was normal. What was even more odd was the fact that water was splashing and rising up against some invisible obstruction, like water splashes up against the side of a boat.

"What in the hells _is_ that?" Bishop said, voicing Jaelyn's thought.

Whatever it was, the sun shined off of it, creating a rainbow of colors along the translucent surface. It reminded Jaelyn of a soap bubble.

Jaelyn shook her head, but she followed that translucent obstruction upward until it was above them and even further still passed the forest. She then noticed that it was in fact all around them, or to be more precise, it was around the island.

"It's some kind of dome." Jaelyn said at last. "Didn't Gulaonar mention something about magic protecting the island when it's moving?"

Bishop shrugged, eyes glued on the shimmer of rainbow hues around them.

"That must be what it is." she said before turning her gaze to the large boat.

It sat on the beach, as luck would have it. It looked much like the Seawolf in size and structure. It was a double masted vessel with a great gaping hole in its side, which was obviously what had caused the drow to become ship wrecked here. There were strips of old, off-white and weather beaten canvas hanging off the masts. They had probably once been sails, but no longer. There wasn't even enough to salvage into new sails. That was going to be a problem. The rest of it looked fine from where they were standing.

Jaelyn began making her way down the beach for a closer look at it. A moment later, Bishop followed.

They looked it over carefully from front to back, checked the sides for any more holes and then finally ended with an inspection of the large hole on the boat's starboard side. Jaelyn stuck her head in it, cautiously in case something might be living in there. There was nothing but a fishy, salt water smell.

She looked back at the ranger.

"Well, what do you think?" she inquired. "Repairable?"

"Depends on how good these barbarians are at wood work." he replied. "This isn't like building furniture or carving totem poles. The hole can be patched up, but they have to know what to do to keep it from leaking."

"What do you mean?"

"You can't just put planks on it and that's it. Something has to go between the planks to keep the water out. Get it?"

"Oh." Jaelyn frowned. "Well, maybe there's something here we can use. I don't know what the ship builders use."

"Neither do I. But it has to hold the planks together, fill the gaps in them and it has to be water-proof. I doubt we're going to find that out here."

"Well, we've looked at the boat at least and know it can be fixed with the right equipment. We just need to find that equipment." she said. "Let's go; I'm baking under this sun."

The two rangers returned some time later to find Grimnar hovering over the bound drow, his club in his hand. The end of it was bloody and the drow lay limp in the grass, one side of his head bashed in until the skull gave way and the brains seeped through.

Jaelyn ran over, falling to her knees at the dead drow's side, a look of horror on her face as she stared into his open but lifeless eyes.

Tears ran down her cheeks and her hand clenched into trembling fists. She finally looked up at Grimnar, who looked down at her with a grim, satisfied expression.

"Why?" she shouted up at him. "Why, you bastard? I saved him! He could've helped us!"

Grimnar shrugged, uncaring. "He got what he deserved."

As he walked off, Jaelyn leaned over the drow and cried.

The ranger approached slowly behind her, staring down at her with a bitter expression on his face. When he spoke, the bitterness was not there and in fact, he sounded rather mild. There wasn't even an I-told-you-so tone.

"You can't save them all. Come on."


	18. Chapter 18: Conversations and Rubies

**xxxxxx**

* * *

**Chapter Eighteen:**

**Conversations and Rubies**

**xxxxxx**

**Jaelyn** spoke not a word their entire trip back and she walked with her head down, a deep expression of anger and sadness mixed into her features.

That was always one way to tell when she was upset, when she refused to talk or make eye contact. And she was making a special effort today to do both of those things at an expert level.

Bishop wasn't complaining. In fact, he was enjoying the silence immensely. It beat listening to her yap and moan about some worthless dead drow.

Grimnar didn't seem to mind it, either as he led them back to the village, his club still stained in that drow's blood, much to Jaelyn's displeasure. The native man didn't seem to care one bit that she was upset with what he had done. He had gotten revenge on at least one of them, and that was all that mattered to the large man.

It never once occurred to him that they might have gotten some useful information out of the drow, which might have given them a better chance against the rest. They might have even gotten the drow to teach the natives how to fight.

Well, it didn't matter now. He was dead, was probably being digested in some carnivorous animal's stomach right about now.

They reached the village that following afternoon, but about half a mile before they reached it, they heard the commotion of many raised voices and the soft sounds of music.

There was a round of exchanged glances and risen brows, and then Grimnar broke out into a run for his village. The other two followed behind at their usual steady pace.

When the village came into view, just about everyone was standing around the remnants of the old ceremony bonfire that had yet to be swept aside. The native woman with the flute was sitting aside, playing solo for the gathered. There was also a good number of children standing with the adults as well, which was rather odd. According to the native customs, children weren't allowed at the parties, but then these particular children looked like they'd been through the hells and back again. Their faces were smudged with dirt, caked with blood, drawn and grim. Their leather clothes were tattered and dirty. Most of them, save for one little sorrowful girl, were being hugged and smothered in kisses by their parents.

It was strange; they were all acting as if these children had not been seen in a long time. Jaelyn remembered something about drow kidnapping people from the village, but nothing about kidnapping children.

Grimnar hurried over to them to see what was up while the two rangers stood aside.

It wasn't long before they were visited by an apparition.

"Ah, I see you're back from your expedition to see our old boat." Gulaonar greeted them with a smile.

Jaelyn looked at him, curiously. "Where have you been?"

"Patrolling the woods around the village." he replied and then eyed her arm, the one with the tribal markings on them. "I see you've proven you're knowledge of the ways of the warrior."

"I had help." she admitted freely and much to Bishop's surprise, who allowed a small glance her way.

Gulaonar inclined his head and his smile widened. "I have good news for you, my child, regarding your friend, the halfling."

Jaelyn's entire face lit up and her eyes widened. "Quin? What about him?"

"He arrived some time ago with a small group of children who had been kidnapped by the drow." he explained.

Jaelyn felt a tremendous amount of relief that nearly overwhelmed her off her feet. As it was, she staggered back, a hand over her rapidly pounding heart. There were tears of joy in her eyes.

"And he's all right? Take me to him, Gulaonar."

"They have him resting at Tega's." the ghostly drow replied. "He went though a lot. I think seeing you may lift his spirits again."

She knew where Tega's shelter was. Jaelyn dropped everything and hurried off toward the native woman's home.

She didn't even bother knocking. She simply burst through the curtain across the threshold, breathing heavily from excitement and elation at knowing her friend was okay.

Quin was sitting up in a bed, one leg propped up on a pillow while Tega leaned over it, applying some kind of salve to it.

The halfling looked up at the drow and greeted her to a small smile. It didn't seem like him at all. As long as she had known him, Quin was always ready to give one of his famous grins. Whatever had happened to him in the drow's custody, it must have been something terrible.

Jaelyn rushed over to him and sat beside him on the bed. There was just one long moment where she stared at him, earning a quirked brow from the halfling and then she reached out and pulled him into a tight hug.

"I was so worried about you, I didn't know what to do. I couldn't save you and we couldn't rescue you and I thought you might be dead. I'm so glad you're okay. Don't you ever do this to me again, Quince Bramblebrow!" she blubbered without a single breath between any of her sentences.

The halfling laughed and patted her back. "It's all right. I know you couldn't save me. You didn't know where I was in the first place. It's all right, Jaelyn. I'm fine."

She pulled him back, sniffling. "Are you sure?"

Quin gave her a reassuring nod while Jaelyn ran a hand through his sandy blond hair before ruffling it. Quin grabbed her tattooed arm, staring at it in surprise.

"I say, when did you get that?"

"A few days ago." she said, looking at the marks as Quin ran an experimental finger over them. "After you got caught, we came here to find the village under attack by the drow. Bishop and I, along with Gulaonar, fended them off. I...ended up getting shot in the back with two bolts and could have died if not for Tega and the other healers. Anyway, in honor of our deeds during the attack, the leader of the tribe, Olland, made us honorary members of their tribe and offered to mark us with the tribal motif of the warrior-"

Quin smirked and held up his hand to halt her. "Wait, wait, wait. You're telling me that ranger let these islanders tattoo him? He doesn't seem the type to me."

Jaelyn laughed briefly. "He's not. He refused, said it was branding and he didn't want any part of it. To give him some credit, he did go on the ceremonial hunt with the eldest sons of the top hunting families. So, at least he didn't make us look too bad. I...had to fight for my honor, though."

"How so?"

"One of Olland's top warriors insulted me, said I didn't deserve the honor the mark of the warrior offered. So, I had to challenge him."

Quin's entire face went wide in surprise. "You? Well, I don't mean to sound so surprised, but...well, I am. I mean, you're not confrontational. Challenging this warrior just doesn't sound like you."

Jaelyn smiled softly. "I think I've changed a bit since you were captured."

"What brought about this change?"

She bit her bottom lip. "Well, Bishop forced me to realize some unpleasant things about myself."

"He what? Some nerve. He's got problems of his own. That doesn't sound like him, anyway."

Jaelyn shook her head. "Whatever his intention, he was right. I've been a coward for a long time, running from everything. I'm through running. That was why I challenged Grimnar, Olland's warrior. I needed to defend my honor."

"And did you?"

She bit her lip again. "I should've eased into the whole standing up for myself thing. Grimnar is a very large man in both height and width. Well, we faced each other in the ring..."

Jaelyn told him in great detail about the fight with Grimnar, how she was nearly pounded into the ground by him, how the ranger had been there at the last moment to help her, and how she eventually defeated him. Quin listened intently and with enthusiasm.

"I say, I missed one hells of a fight!" he said. "I would've loved to have been there. And what's this with Bishop, all this helping and acting civil?"

Jaelyn gave him a strange look. "Civil? He may have been helpful, but he's been anything but civil. Just yesterday, we fought this huge snake...um, naga, actually and we found a large hoard of treasure, and-"

"Treasure?" Quin cut her off, his eyes shining with instant curiosity. "You found treasure...and a naga? This is a strange place for a naga to be."

Jaelyn shrugged. "I thought so, too. It was hoarding the treasure in a cave in the southeast region of the island. I still can't figure out where it got it. But I found this enormous ruby I wanted to take for you and then that...bastard made a terrible comment. 'No point wasting it on the dead.' is what he said. I lost it. I slapped him. Hard."

Quin snorted. "Well, he deserved it. I'm not surprised he'd say something like that, though. So, what happened to the ruby?"

He was grinning. It made Jaelyn happy to see it, because it was that trademark inane grin she loved, the one that defined him as the happy-go-lucky halfling that had been her friend for many months.

"I was so upset and angry that I forgot about it." she said. "We can always go back for it, I'm sure it's still there."

"Good, 'cause I'd love to see this treasure! So, did the tattoo hurt?"

She laughed. "A lot. But I bore it. It was done with some kind of ceremonial knife."

Quin reached out and took her arm, looking over the marks again, carefully.

"Very...er, intricate, but it's done really well. You see a lot of tattooed people in the Shadow Thieves and I've never seen work this good before."

She smiled. "I like it."

Quin nodded. "As do I. I wonder if they'd do one for me."

"Possibly. Most of them are very grateful for our help."

"I'll say. When I finally made it to the village with the children, they were all really excited to see me." Quin said. "Like I was a close friend they hadn't seen in ages."

"Where did the children come from?"

Quin sighed as he mentally recalled what had happened to him while under the drow's imprisonment and what he had to go through to save himself and the children. Those images were going to haunt him for a long time, he knew. No one ever forgot a thing like that.

"It's a long story."

"And I'm here to listen to it, when you're ready to tell it."

He nodded. "I think now would be the best time. We need to conserve our time for figuring out how to beat these evil bastards."

Jaelyn saw the loathing and anger in him toward the drow. It made her wonder for a brief second if this new found hatred would eventually be turned toward her as well, but then she realized she was being ridiculous. They had been friends for a long time to let something like that come between them, and she was not like the other drow. She was not one of them and she had none of their evil tendencies.

Quin told her what had happened while being imprisoned, told her of the torture the drow inflicted on him, of the native man that had been in the same holding room as him, chained up in his cell; he told her about the man's wife. He then got into the more grim areas of the tale where he had been faced with the decision of spilling information about all of them to save a child's life and how he'd felt guilty for the choice he had made.

"There is nothing to feel guilty about, Quin." Jaelyn assured him. "You did the right thing. I would've done the same."

Quin shook his head, his blue eyes glistening with tears. "But it didn't matter. The drow killed that little boy anyway...right in front of me, slit his throat."

Jaelyn recoiled in horror and took Quin's hand in hers once she recovered, her thumb caressing over the top of his hand.

"Gods. I'm so sorry, Quin, that you had to go through that, and alone. If I had been stronger, if I had caught that bastard that kidnapped you, none of this would've happened!"

He sat up straight and shook his head hard. "No, don't do that. It's not your fault. It's no one's fault but the drow's. And they're going to pay for it, I swear it. In a way, I'm kind of glad I got captured. Four lives were lost, unfortunately, but more lives were saved, innocent lives."

Jaelyn looked up at him through tear-blurred eyes and her face broke out into a smile. "You're amazing, Quin. You truly are. Even in the most horrid of situations, you see the good."

"I'm surprised any good came out of it at all."

Jaelyn gave his hand a pat. "I want to hear the rest. How did you escape?"

Quin continued with how he eventually got out of his bonds by a series of clever maneuvers, which caused his leg injury, how he killed the two drow posted outside his holding room and then how he found the children. He finished with the killing of the remaining drow and the final escape.

"After we got out of the stone building we were all kept in, we found a place to camp for the night and well...now I'm here." the halfling concluded.

She stared at him in shock. "Gulaonar was not lying when he said you had gone through a lot. Are you sure you're all right?"

"I don't think I'll ever get the image of that child being killed out of my head." Quin admitted grimly. "Physically, I'm as healthy as I've ever been, but I'm very angry...no, pissed! Royally. I want them all to pay, every last godsdamned one of them!"

Jaelyn looked away from her friend's burning eyes. She'd never thought she'd see so much hatred in the halfling's gaze.

"But..." she faltered for a moment, wondering how Quin would take her next words and then pressed on bravely. "Not all of them are the same, Quin. There may be some that can be saved."

"Saved?" he spat, angrily. "I doubt it. They're all evil; all they care about is destroying!"

She shook her head. "I can't believe that. Some of them may be too afraid to disobey their leader, or to escape."

"That's their problem!" Quin replied, harshly. "If they know their leader and the majority of their people are doing evil, then they should set aside that fear to escape."

"And who's to say that they didn't?" Jaelyn said. "Who's to say they didn't try to escape, were caught and made an example of? Drow leaders have ways to keep their underlings in line. They all come from the Underdark, so Dresmor no doubt knows many different techniques to scare his inferiors straight and to keep them from doing anything bold, and they know what he's capable of. Most of the things he may be doing to them he's probably witnessed or was victim to. If he didn't know how to scare them, he would've been killed a long time ago, just as Gulaonar was."

"I wouldn't dare to hope if I were you, Jaelyn." the halfling said, grimly. "If what you say is true and this Dresmor keeps all the other drow in line by scaring them, then the ones that wanted to escape are probably corrupted by what he's been forcing them do."

"I'm not going to give up on them on a probably. They may be drow from the Underdark, but they're still my people. If I give up on them, I give up on myself."

"You are not them!" Quin shouted at her in frustration. "You might as well not even call yourself drow. You don't act like them and you don't believe like them. The only thing that actually makes you drow is your appearance, nothing else."

Jaelyn nodded, curtly, feeling anger toward the halfling for the first time since she'd met him. "I know that. I've heard it from Gulaonar and I've heard it from Bishop; it was only a matter of time before I heard it from you, too. I know I'm not what they are, but I still have to try. They aren't all evil, contrary to what the world believes. Gulaonar is proof of that. If you don't want to help me, that's fine. I'll still try, even if I have to do it alone."

She stood up from the bed as Quin looked away, feeling a little bit ashamed of himself for letting his anger get the better of him.

"I'll let you rest." she said, still holding to her curt tone.

Jaelyn turned and left Tega's shelter.

**xxxxxxxxxx**

Jaelyn took a walk outside the village to clear her head and settle her nerves. She felt guilty for the way she spoke to Quin, especially while he wasn't feeling well and had just escaped torture and imprisonment. One just didn't do that to a friend who had just gone through so much. Once they both had time to cool off and think, she was going to go back and apologize for her behavior.

She didn't go far from the village. In fact, she only went as far as the cliff that stood over it. There was a small path that led north out of the village into a heavily wooded area with a small pond. The path twisted and turned through the woods and around the cliff for about a mile until it gradually became overrun by ground cover, shrubs and other plants. It was apparent that the natives didn't go this far out and with good reason since the drow were known to roam about this way. To the right of the path, there was a slope that led up to the top of the cliff. Jaelyn followed this and she eventually came to the flat top that overlooked the village and the place where the two drow crossbowmen had been when they'd bolted her. She didn't see any bodies about, so she assumed the natives had taken care of them.

The cliff view was beautiful. She could see the entire village below her, and from up there, it seemed so tiny and insignificant. It proved how small the village truly was, despite the population of the natives. The village looked like it could only accommodate twenty, not over a hundred, as it truly did.

There were numerous people out and about on their daily rituals. Women were cleaning linen in wooden buckets. Jaelyn noted that since the buckets were made out of wood, then they must know a technique to keep them from leaking. She would have a chat with the women later to find out what they use on the buckets. It was likely to work on the boat as well.

On the left side of the village, where most of the hunting families lived, a group of men were still working on rebuilding the burned out shelters from the drow attack. Some of the village children were helping, holding tools and handing planks or tufts of thatch when they were needed. She could easily pick Gulaonar out in the village, moving about, speaking with villagers. Just below her was Olland's shelter, and she could see the top of Grimnar's head. To the large man's left was an empty place Akereth usually occupied and Jaelyn wondered where he was. It wasn't like him to leave his post.

She turned around, facing north, to get a view of her surroundings. At the cliff's height, she could almost see over the trees to the northeast. They were smaller there, but they were thick; it was a sea of green with no ground in sight. She could also see some stone structure far out that way, poking up above the tree line. The taller trees were to the south past the village and to the east where she, Bishop and Grimnar had just returned from. There were a lot of them, but the areas weren't as choked as the north was..

Jaelyn sat down in the grass, leaned back on her hands and stared up at the sky. The clouds were still rolling by at an unnatural speed, giving her the strange impression that time was zipping by, though in actuality it was just the island still on the move. She wondered briefly when it was going to stop, if it ever was and then her thoughts were interrupted.

"Taking in the sights?"

The words were spoken in drow and in a voice she was familiar with. She looked over to see Akereth standing nearby with a faint smile on his face.

"Just clearing my head." she replied. "What brings you up here?"

"I saw you coming up here and I thought maybe you'd like some company, especially since the drow stalk this area. I mean, obviously you can care for yourself, but...er..."

He was nervous, Jaelyn could tell. He always 'er'ed when he was nervous. She offered what she hoped was an easing smile.

"I'll go if you want to be alone."

"No, it's all right." she said. "I wouldn't mind the company, actually. You're company, anyway. I mean, you're a lot easier to talk to than other people."

She felt a blush creeping up on her.

Akereth came over and sat next to her, looking out over the trees.

"It's beautiful up here, yes?"

She nodded. "And quiet."

"I come up here on occasion. Or at least, I used to before the drow came. It's the only spot on the island where you can see over the trees. Sometimes I pretend I'm standing on top of the world, er...though that probably sounds stupid to you."

Jaelyn looked at him. "Not at all. Where I'm from, I live on a mountain, so I do the same."

Akereth gave her an uncertain look. "Mountain?"

She laughed. "It's a range of rocky and uneven land that reaches high up into the sky and stretches across for miles and miles. Sometimes, they reach so high up into the sky that they become capped with snow."

"Snow?"

"Don't you have snow here?"

He shrugged, unsure.

"The white stuff that falls from the sky?"

"Oh," he replied, a bit alarmed. "Once, that happened. It was one of the most violent deaths this island has ever seen."

"What do you mean?"

"When the cold white stuff fell from the sky it covered the island, smothered the plants on the ground, weighed down on the trees until their limbs snapped, and the unbearable cold brought illness to our people. Some even died. The island took the worst of it, however. When the white stuff finally went away, everything was dead. Usually some plants survive the island's death, but not that time. We feared the end had come, that the island had truly died forever, but then the air became warm again and the ground began to sprout and trees began to leaf."

"Must've been a terrible winter."

"Winter?"

Jaelyn laughed, couldn't help it.

"Well, where I come from, a year, or an island life, is separated into four cycles: Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter. They are the times when the land and weather changes, much like the life cycles of your island. We just call them seasons. Winter is the coldest, when the plants 'die', the air turns cold and the snow falls."

Akereth nodded his understanding. "You know, we've always known about the 'outside', the places beyond our island. That is to say, we know they exist but we know nothing about them. Olland has always wanted to find a way to reach those places, to learn about them."

"Don't." Jaelyn replied, grimly. "This place and your people will be a lot better off not knowing."

"Why?"

"Because the places outside this island are not all pretty. Not all the people are nice and will welcome you. Some of them will want to take you over for no other reason than to conquer or own the land. They will say they want to get to know you, to learn about your way of life and then when they have what they want, they'll crush you."

"But what about the ones that aren't like this?"

"Even the good ones will find ways of manipulating you or forcing you to convert to their ways, thinking they're doing you a favor by it. Your people are fine the way they are. You don't need any more outside influences."

"We don't?" Akereth questioned. "If that were true, we wouldn't be in the situation we're in now. An outside influence is the only way we're going to defeat the drow: your battle training."

"Perhaps that's true, but how many more times is this island going to be invaded? The drow are the first invaders, aren't they?"

"As a group this large, yes." he replied. "There hasn't been any others in my time, but the Account of Past Lives speaks of single invaders and small groups, men from the outside lands that have drifted here on their boats."

"Account of Past Lives?"

"It's the collection of major events that have happened during every island life, written in stone by our prophets. It goes back thousands of island lives to our very first prophet, Dietrik."

"Oh, so it's like the history of your people? I get it. Where do you keep the Accounts?"

"They are written on the walls of the Sacred Cavern where the Heart of the Island is."

"Where's the cavern at?"

Akereth shook his head. "As much as I trust you and appreciate all you've done for us, I don't have the authority to tell you. It is a closely guarded secret of our people. We will die before we divulge its location, especially now with the drow here. Many of our people have been captured by them and never returned. We can only hope that those people kept true to their oath, even under the tortures of the drow."

Jaelyn understood perfectly. The dragon clan that raised her lived in a secret place, a place only those of the clan know and they all made an oath never to tell its location, even her. She would die before she told anyone where it was.

"What's the Heart of the Island?" she asked.

Akereth smiled. "Another secret that must not be divulged, I'm afraid. All I will say is that it's the very core of the island, where its life is the strongest."

He probably shouldn't have said that. Jaelyn could put two and two together. If the Heart of the Island was the core and the village was situated at the center of the island, then this Heart and its Cavern was somewhere here, in the village.

Since they were on the topic of the island, Jaelyn had to ask.

"Why is there a dome around the island? Grimnar led my companion and I to the boat on the southeast shore and we saw this translucent force around the island. The water was hitting it, so I know it's tangible."

"When the island begins its journey, it summons the Barrier to protect itself, to keep the water from flooding onto the land and to protect against damage that may be received if it ever collided with anything. At the rate it moves, the water could flood and sink the entire island or a collision would likely break parts of it off."

Jaelyn shook her head in disbelief. "How does it do all this?"

Akereth shrugged. "It's no different than how you would protect yourself. In some cases, if someone attacks you, you throw up your hands to ward off the attack, right?"

"Well, I understand that part. I meant, how does it physically do it? How does an island, a thing, conjure up some protective dome?"

"One of the island's many secrets." Akereth answered. "Like its journey, like the Heart itself, and the trees."

"Gulaonar says the trees are like that because the island is angry."

Akereth nodded. "That's one of the ways it communicates. But the trees have other secrets."

"This is a very strange place you live in. I could almost say magical. The Weave must be strong here."

"Weave?"

"Yes, it's the very source of magic and it flows through the world. However, there are certain places, dead zones and wild zones, where the Weave has been damaged."

"What's magic?"

Jaelyn looked on him in surprise, though she really shouldn't have been.

"Its a powerful force that can be called upon using spells, sacred words. They tell the Weave to rearrange itself into a particular effect. Some wizards and sorcerers-spell-casters-can conjure balls of fire or protective shields like the one around this island and some can even harness the forces of nature, like the wind and lightning."

"That sounds dangerous."

"It is sometimes." she admitted. "Especially when it's in the wrong hands."

"Can you do those things?"

"Magic?" She looked at him, dubiously. "Not in the way spell-casters do it, no. The magic I know comes from my deity, Silvanus. Through prayer, He has granted me spells of healing. But that's as far as my spell-casting goes."

"Deity? I've heard this word many times. A deity is a higher being, right? One that has remarkable power and does not die?"

Jaelyn nodded. "Yes, you've probably heard a lot about the goddess Lolth from Gulaonar. The drow worship her."

"And she is evil." Akereth added. "According to Gulaonar."

Again, she nodded.

"Then who is this Silvanus?"

"The God of wild nature." she replied with a reverent smile. "There are a number of other deities for worship, but Silvanus was the only one that answered my prayers. When I was younger, just learning the ways of the ranger, I went out into the forest outside my home to explore and found a trail of blood and some odd looking deer tracks, like it was dragging something. I followed them and came upon a fawn with a broken leg. It was the saddest thing I'd ever seen and all I wanted to do was help her in anyway I could. It was strange because I looked into her eyes and she was telling me of the pain she felt and then I felt it, too. Since she was too injured and weak to escape me, I bent down to her and looked at the injury. I had no idea what to do, so I cradled her leg gently in my hand; the blood didn't even bother me, and I just started praying to who ever was listening. 'Please,' I kept saying, 'I want to help her. Tell me how to help her. Please, tell me how to help her. I don't want her to die.' I felt something then, like complete serenity. There was so much warmth and light in that moment and then there was a voice, just as warm. 'Heal her' he said. I tingled all over and there was light in my hands. The fawn's wound was healing before my eyes and I was doing it! I had no idea how I was doing it. Once she was healed, she stood up on her legs and looked at me for what seemed like ages. I felt her gratefulness and then she was gone. But I wasn't alone anymore. When I stood up to make my way back home, I heard the name in the wind."

"Silvanus."

Jaelyn nodded. "He has walked with me ever since and my faith in Him has never faltered, nor will it ever."

For several moments, Akereth was quiet, staring down at his hands and then he finally looked up at her.

"That was an amazing story."

She smiled. "It was the most amazing thing to ever happen to me."

"But to be chosen like that by your deity..."

"Well, I imagine almost everyone who has faith in the higher powers must have some instance where they have come in contact with the deity they worship, whether it's receiving a vision of them in a dream, hearing their name in the wind or simply being smiled at in the street by one of the deity's priests or clerics. The important part is the faith. If you truly believe, They will answer. They may not answer all the time, but if you ever really pay attention to when They do, it's always in your greatest time of need."

"As the island does for our people." Akereth said.

Jaelyn nodded.

The two talked for several more hours, watching the sun set over in the west, turning the horizon into an array of colors, from the bright yellow-orange of the sun to an orange-gold that gradually gave in to soft pinks and purples and finally deepening to that midnight blue, dotted with premature stars.

Afterward, they walked back to the village and went their separate ways, promising to see each other during dinner.

As Akereth returned to his guarding duties at Olland's shelter, Jaelyn went to her own shelter to see how her cat-bear was doing. She had made a promise to Feral before she'd left to find the boat, a promise she had failed to keep. She had some apologizing to do and he was probably still starving.

However, the moment she stepped through the threshold, it wasn't the cat-bear that first caught her attention, but a remarkable thing sitting on her table beside her bed.

With her brows furrowing in confusion, Jaelyn picked up the item, looking it over while questions crowded between her ears, demanding answers. One of them was lucky in the struggle to take hold of her brain long enough to work her mouth.

"Huh?"

In her hands was that enormous ruby she had found in the naga cave, the one she had forgotten to take with her in her anger at Bishop.

How in the hells did it find its way to her table?

She scratched her head in puzzlement.

_What is that?_ a voice asked in her mind.

Jaelyn looked sideways at Feral, who was sitting on her bed, staring at her with his head cocked to one side.

"A ruby." she replied, looking back at it in astonishment. "I swear I thought I left this in the cave."

_I saw that two-leg bring it in. I was under the bed, so he didn't know I was here._

Jaelyn blinked. "Grimnar? Hnh. That's odd. I guess I'll have to thank him. Though I don't know why he'd make such a gesture."

_Grimnar? No, I don't think we're talking about the same person here. You don't call him Grimnar._

She looked at Feral, a dent forming in her forehead. "Who in the hell are you talking about, th-"

Her eyes widened. And then she laughed.

"Yeah, right." she said. "I didn't know cat-bears could joke."

_Who's joking? I saw that annoying two-leg you seem to be fond of come in here, looking around to make sure he was alone. He sat the ruby on the table and left._

"Are you sure?"

She had a feeling a horrible joke was being played on her.

_Yes, I'm sure. I know what I saw._

"And you're sure it was him? Tall guy, auburn hair, gold eyes, perpetual scowl? That one?"

_How many times do I have to-_

"I don't believe it!" she cried. "It doesn't even make any sense. Why would he do that? It's nice, for one thing and that's just not right. He doesn't do stuff like that."

_I thought he was unpredictable, myself._

"Well, yeah, but that's not what I...well, uh..." She hung her head with a deflating sigh. "You know what? I don't even want to know, I just don't. Not right now."

_It's a nice gesture._

Jaelyn shot him a glare. "I know that. Didn't I just say that? That's the damn point! It's something I would expect of Akereth. Hells, it's something I would even expect from Grimnar, but not him!"

_Calm down._

"Calm down? How am I supposed to calm down when he keeps...doing things I can't comprehend? Well, you know what? He can just take it back. I don't want it. It probably comes with strings attached, anyway."

_You can't give it back._

"Why in the hells not?"

_Because he 'gave' it to you when you weren't around. He doesn't want you to know it was him. He'll deny it, anyway, you know that. Just leave it be; don't mention it. The two-leg obviously had a moment of weakness._

Jaelyn sat on the edge of her bed, staring at the ruby.

"But I want to know why."

_You're going to regret it if you bring it up. Just leave well enough alone. If you corner him with this, he's going to lash out._

"What's wrong with wanting to know why he did it?"

_There are just some things people don't want you to know. I'm a cat-bear, as you call me, and even I know that._

"But it's kind of obvious. I mean, he was the only one in the cave, so, of course, it had to be him."

Well, it was obvious to her now. She wouldn't have even guessed it was him if Feral hadn't told her, even with the realization that he'd been the only one in the cave.

_He knows that and he knows that you probably know that, too. It one of those unspoken things._

She stared at the ruby for a moment longer, her expression changing from confusion into surprise and then back to confusion again. With a sigh, she sat the ruby back on the table.

"I wish that idiot would start making sense."


	19. Chapter 19: Another Challenge

**xxxxxx**

* * *

**Chapter Nineteen:**

**Another Challenge**

**xxxxxx**

"**Olland** has called the council together this morning." Gulaonar said. "You and Bishop are required to attend the meeting."

Jaelyn looked up at him from the table where she was eating her breakfast of mixed fruits and a few pieces of roasted boar's meat. There was a clay cup beside her clay plate, filled with a concoction of fruit juices, from mangoes and pears to a bit of pineapple. All these fruits apparently grew on the northern side of the island where the natives could no longer forage for them as often as they used to. But Jaelyn had been told that she and her companions could have anything they wanted in the village, so long as it was in the native's power to give.

All she wanted was a good breakfast to compliment the excellent dinner she'd had with Akereth last night. They had eaten together with a large group of other natives and talked. Mostly, she told him about being raised by the dragon clan and how she was bonded with one of the dragons. Akereth listened and then shared the story about how he had become one of Olland's top warriors, how the position had been earned through fighting hand-to-hand with Grimnar, much like Jaelyn's fight with him had been. It had been nice talking with him, having a normal, civil conversation with someone without cryptic responses or lies or denial. They shared their thoughts with one another and how they felt about certain things. It was probably the first decent conversation she'd ever had with a male of the human race, or truly, a male of any race other than halfling. She now looked at Akereth as a friend.

Jaelyn stuck a blueberry in her mouth while she stared over at Gulaonar, who floated there in the midst of her shelter.

"Required?" she asked. "This is new."

"Olland is calling the meeting to discuss when to start the training. With all that has been going on, the day he had planned on starting the training had to be changed."

Jaelyn ate a slice of apple, and asked with a full mouth, "So, when is the meeting, then?"

"It is being assembled as we speak."

She sighed and stood up from her chair.

"Let's get this over with, then."

Jaelyn followed Gulaonar out and as the ghost began making his way to the shelter next to hers, the drow proceeded toward the longhouse where the council meetings were held and where a good number of natives were already congregating.

"I'll meet you inside." she called over her shoulder and she didn't bother to see if Gulaonar was listening or not as she stepped over toward the crowd.

They parted to let her through into the longhouse, offering her friendly and warm greetings as she passed. Jaelyn was surprised by their behavior; not one of them was sneering at her.

Once inside, she looked around, noting the many eyes that followed her. It didn't make her nervous as it had the first time she'd gone through this. The looks were less volatile and she was more confident. She saw Akereth sitting on the left front row of wooden benches, Grimnar beside him.

Their gazes met, smiles were exchanged and then she offered him a small wave as she presented herself to the council.

The thirteen men eyed her in a grim, business-like fashion. Olland stood up from his seat and greeted her.

"I am pleased to see that you made it back safely from your trip." he said in drow. "Was the boat repairable?"

"Well, we think it can be repaired if we can find the right equipment for it."

"What do you need?"

"A water-proof substance that can hold the wood planks together and seal the cracks." she explained. "I noticed yesterday that a few of the native women use wooden tubs to clean their linen. Whatever is used to keep the tubs from leaking would probably work on the boat as well."

Olland nodded. "Very good. I will have one of the women make a batch of this sealant once it's time to start working on the boat. For now, let us begin discussing the true matter of this meeting. With all that has been happening around here as of late, we have had to delay the training. We need to begin, immediately, and we must establish some way of getting it done soon."

Jaelyn shook her head. "If you want your men and women to be good fighters, it's going to take time."

"Time is something we do not have." Olland replied. "The drow could attack at any moment and we must be able to defend ourselves and our village."

A murmur of agreement rippled through the assembled natives and then it was hushed as the crowd in the back parted to let Gulaonar and the ranger through. Eyes and heads swiveled in their direction.

"I see you've started without us." Gulaonar commented.

Jaleyn offered a grin. "No, just having a little chat. You made it right on time, actually."

"Let us proceed." Olland pressed, eying the two drow. "A hundred men and women must be trained within a small time frame. How are we going to accomplish this?"

"We must first establish what these two can train your people in, Olland." Gulaonar said and then looked to Jaelyn for the answer.

"Well," she began. "I can train them in the use of the bow. I suppose Bishop could, too, but it would probably be better if he trained them in using a melee weapon. I'm not trained in that; I only know how to use the bow and a little bit of hand-to-hand. Quin could probably train them in the use of melee weapons, as well, once he's recovered. The actual problem is finding the weapons to train them with."

Jaelyn's side was elbowed.

She glanced at Bishop.

"Mind telling me what's going on?" It was more of a command than a question.

"We're trying to figure out how we're going to train these people. So far we've established that I'm training them with the bow and you and Quin are training them in melee weapons."

He crossed his arms over his chest. "Oh, really? Who even said I'd help at all?"

Jaelyn stuck her hands on her hips. "You better!"

He sent a glare that had no effect on her whatsoever; she sent it back.

"I had?" he demanded, coldly.

"Yeah," she snapped, poking him in the chest with her finger for emphasis. "You better. They need your help."

"It's not my problem."

"You said you'd help!"

"No, I didn't. You just assumed I would. And that's what you get for assuming things."

Her mouth dropped open.

"But...Arrhg! This is no time to be difficult!"

"Is there a problem?" Olland questioned in drow.

Gulaonar shook his head in exasperation.

Jaelyn looked over at the thirteen men, offering a sheepish expression. "Uh...no. Just a little...misunderstanding. One moment, please."

She turned back to the ranger, her expression turning hard. "Now, listen, _I_ need your help. I can't train these people alone."

"So? Let these idiots fend for themselves. They deserve what they get, anyway." he replied, giving a disdainful look to the assembled natives.

"No, they don't. It's not their fault! Why can't you get that?"

He looked back down at her. "'Cause it is their fault. Instead of fighting back when the drow attacked, they ran away. They're cowards; so, let them rot."

Jaelyn couldn't believe it. Well, she really shouldn't have been surprised, but she was. She simply did not understand how he could make a gesture as he did with the ruby, yet be so cold-blooded at the same time. What went through this man's head for him to behave like this? He was obviously confused about something, but she didn't have the time to figure out what it was. She was about to have her hands full with trying to talk him into helping, which would be about as simple as talking devils into believing that demons really did like them and wanted nothing more than to play poker with them on the weekends instead of fighting each other in an eternal war.

Jaelyn scoffed and shook her head at him. "What do you want in exchange for your help, then?"

He shrugged. "They have nothing I want...but you do."

She knew she shouldn't, but she did anyway.

"What?"

He gave her a leering once-over and a seductive grin.

"What do you think?"

Her face contorted in disgust. "You're out of your mind is what I think."

He shrugged again. "Then I guess your friends are going to die."

Bishop turned and proceeded to leave the longhouse. Jaelyn clenched her teeth, hating him and inwardly cursed him to the Hells.

"Wait," she heard herself saying.

This was probably by far the worst decision she could ever make, but he had left her with no choice in the matter. These people needed help, even his, and she wasn't about to be the reason why they didn't get it. Even if it meant..._this_.

He turned back, expectantly and she stared hatefully at him.

"We can do this another way." she went on. "A challenge."

He wasn't in the mood for games, but he still had to admit that he was a little curious as to what she thought she could challenge him at and have a chance in the hells of beating him.

"I'm listening."

"An archery challenge." she replied without hesitation. "If I win, you help them."

He laughed in amusement. "You're kidding, right? Why even go through all the trouble? Unless you don't mind a little humiliation before getting bedded. Some people are into that kind of thing. I don't mind, of course; makes things interesting."

Gulaonar frowned at him. "How dare you talk to her like that!"

"Why don't you back off? What, you think she can't defend herself?"

"I never said she couldn't-"

"Then shut up." Bishop snapped, glaring at him. "She doesn't need you standing up for her."

She ignored them both. "This challenge is not a joke. If I have to be robbed of something like that, then I at least want the chance of fighting for it."

"Fair enough. So, if you lose, I get what I want?"

Jaelyn swallowed hard and looked away, her expression creasing into a frown. "You already know the answer to that."

"I want to hear you say it."

She looked at him in anger, her eyes finding his and holding the stare between them steadily.

"If I lose, I'll give you what you want." she said levelly, though she was lying. If she lost, she would commit suicide before she gave herself to him, but he didn't have to know that. "If I lose, I'm yours."

"Jaelyn!" Gulaonar replied in shock. "You can't be serious!"

Again, she ignored him.

Her words were sweet to Bishop, sweet words that gave his spine a thrilling tingle. The very idea of claiming what had yet to even be touched by another man made all his blood rush south. It didn't matter that she was untouched because it had never crossed a man's mind to touch a drow woman. The mere fact that she was virgin was what did it for him.

Bishop gave her a wolfish smile. "That's a big wager, drow. I didn't think you had the guts for high stakes."

"I don't plan on losing." she shot back.

"Neither do I." he replied. "And you've got much more to lose than I do. I think you better consider this wager more carefully."

"I've considered it long enough." she replied dismissively, knowing he was only condescending her. "Are you up for it or not?"

"Oh, I wouldn't pass this up for the world."

"Good." she snapped. "Then once this meeting is over, we'll see who's going to lose."

"Yeah," he said. "We'll see. I'll be waiting."

He turned then and disappeared through the threshold into the village.

"Are you insane?" Gulaonar asked, his voice holding in it a tone that demanded answers. "How can you gamble something like this? What you risk is your maidenhood, your chance to share yourself with someone you love."

Jaelyn faced the drow apparition. "Believe me when I say this, Gulaonar. I am not going to lose. He doesn't have a chance in the hells against me. I have determination on my side and more of a reason to fight for the win than he does. I will not lose."

Gulaonar sighed. "For your sake, child, I hope you don't. You need more than determination and a reason to fight. You also have to be very good at archery."

"I am." she replied confidently. "I'm better than he is. I'll have him questioning himself and his prowess once I'm done with him."

"Well, it's a nice thought, but I think that man stopped asking questions about himself a long time ago." the ghost replied.

"Well, he's going to start asking them again, damn it." Jaelyn said forcefully.

The challenge suddenly gave her an idea and she turned to face Olland once again, who was staring at her in question, had been since her conversation with the ranger had started.

"Gather your current best fighters together." she told him. "And they can have their first archery lesson today."

Olland's brow furrowed. "I don't understand."

"I have made a challenge with my companion, an archery challenge. I think it would be good for your best fighters to watch and learn."

"But why only my best fighters?"

"Well, I figure if we train a handful of people now, they can pass on what they have learned to others and so on. We can train everyone faster that way, instead of us just training a few groups at a time."

Gulaonar nodded and smiled. "Good thinking."

"But there is still the problem of our lack of weapons." Olland reminded them. "When your small friend returned to the village, he said he had been held prisoner in a place with many weapons. If we could get some of them, the training would be more involved. We're going to need them, regardless."

Jaelyn nodded. "Well, then I will get the directions from Quin. We can go tomorrow."

"There is also the cave in the cliff face I told you about a few days ago, where the drow are known to store some of their weapons." Gulaonar said. "We should also check there. The less weapons they have, the better."

"Right."

**xxxxxxxxxx**

She met up with him in the village center not long after the meeting with the council, and the ranger suspiciously eyed the small group of men that followed behind her.

"What's all this?"

"I figured since we're doing this, I might as well bring along some of the natives willing to learn." Jaelyn replied.

Bishop smirked. "Are you sure you want witnesses to your humiliation?"

She grinned. "No, I want witnesses to yours."

"They're going to be disappointed, then."

"I wouldn't be too confident in yourself. You're the one that's going to be disappointed today."

"I hope your bow skill can back up your big mouth."

"It can and it will. I hope you can handle losing to a woman."

"I don't think that's going to be a problem."

Now that the trash talking was out of the way, Jaelyn got straight to business.

"So, how are we doing this? The old fashion way, hit a target dead center? Or the more interesting way, calling shots we both have to make?"

Bishop grinned evilly. "Calling shots."

He was already setting them up in his mind as they spoke.

Jaelyn nodded. "Good. I was hoping you'd say that."

She had a few shots planned, herself, but she was saving those for last, either as clinchers or if she found herself behind, they could even things up.

"And we both only get one chance to hit the target." she went on. "Whoever is calling the shot has to make it first. If it's a miss, the other person doesn't have to make the attempt. The first person to miss three shots is the loser."

"Fair enough."

The group of men standing around behind Jaelyn looked on in interest and she turned around to explain the challenge to them. They nodded, exchanging eager and anticipatory glances between each other. Jaelyn faced her opponent once more.

"Who goes first?"

Bishop made a proceeding gesture in a mocking manner. "Ladies, of course."

She rose a brow in response. "The beast has manners?"

"You're pressing it, girl."

Grinning, Jaelyn stepped forward and peered around for her first target. For the benefit of her 'students', she was going to choose a simple target so she could explain proper stance to them, an important element of archery. Her target was a tree about fifty yards away, just on the edge of the village.

Jaelyn lined herself up.

"First thing you need to learn in archery is a proper stance." she said to them in drow. "There are four different types of stances; even, open, close and oblique. Your stance will be determined by your size, comfort level, and more often than not, your environment. Right now, I'll use the even stance, the beginner's stance. Remember to keep your feet shoulder-width apart with equal weight on both feet. Legs should be straight but not rigid. Depending on whether you're left or right handed, your non-dominant side should be facing the target..."

She went on for several boring minutes, going on in detail about the other stances and when it was appropriate to use them. Then Bishop cut her off out of impatience. He had no idea what she was saying to them, but by the looks on the natives' faces, he had a good idea she was boring them with unnecessary details.

"Gods, just shoot the damn arrow already."

Jaelyn gave him a simmering look. "They need to know this stuff. One doesn't simply pick up a bow and shoot it."

"One doesn't?" he replied. "All they need to know is the basics; arrow goes there, string goes back, let go. The rest you learn by experimentation."

"Stance isn't learned by experience alone and neither is aiming. Those are things that must be taught."

"No, they're not. You learn both through experience. Any idiot knows that. You try out different stances and adopt the one that suits you. And aiming is mostly trial and error. Through it, you learn what not to do. Apparently, I should be the one training them in this."

Jaelyn laughed. "Why? You would just give them all a bow and sit back and watch them fill each other with arrows."

He grinned devilishly. "So? It's the best way to learn."

Jaelyn shook her head in exasperation.

She nocked an arrow, explaining to the natives that an arrow should always be nocked with the bow facing down. Three fingers held the bowstring and arrow in place with the index finger above the arrow and the other two fingers below it, holding the string.

She then rose her bow and pulled the string back, further explaining the importance of repeatable anchor point positions. At the blank looks she received, she told them what anchor point was, the places on the face where the hand constantly brushes when the bowstring is at full draw. Once a solid anchor point was established, accuracy improved considerably.

"Your grip on the bow should be relaxed, and always remember that your breathing also plays an important part in accuracy. It keeps your hand steady. Finally, when releasing the string, you simply relax your fingers."

She did so and her arrow took flight, driving home into the tree she had targeted.

"You will also want to adjust your aim according to the wind." she concluded. "But that will come-"

Her words were interrupted by the sound of another arrow thunking into the tree. She looked over at the ranger, who had a cocky look on his face.

"Next."

"How do we accomplish that speed?" one of the native's questioned, nodding at Bishop. "He went through the same thing you did so fast, I think I blinked and missed most of it."

Jaelyn frowned. "Well, I can do that, too, you know. I just took my time to show you how to go about it. To be that good takes practice and lots of it."

She was so glad Bishop didn't understand the drow language.

The natives looked a little put off by what she had said. Practice took time and they had none of that.

"You don't need to be that fast." she said to those frowning faces. "Accuracy is what counts. Speed does play a minor role, but it isn't as important for you as you might think. Besides, for you, archery is more of a secondary measure, when all else fails. Your main focus is going to be in melee weapons. There will probably be only a small group of you serving as full-time archers. I'm sure Olland will explain all this to you."

"But that small group of us is going to have to be good." another native pointed out.

Jaelyn sighed. "And you will be, you have my word on that. But speed is not an essential part of archery; usually you only need to be fast when your sniping more than one target. As long as you have cover, you don't need to be fast."

There were a few nods of understanding and a few frowns of uncertainty. And one look of impatience from behind her.

"Can we get on with this?" Bishop pressed. "I'm growing old over here, waiting. Not all of us live as long as you elves do."

"What're you waiting on me for? It's your shot next."

"Then pay attention."

He set up his shot, aiming at the cone-shaped roof of Olland's shelter. He set his arrow loose on a true path. It struck the support pole that stuck out at the top of the cone-shaped thatch. An interesting shot, Jaelyn noticed, but one easily made.

She showed off her own skill, nocking her arrow and pulling her bow back, all of which was done in one fluid motion that looked natural on her, and which in fact, was. Weilsung, her draconic adoptive father, had once commented on her bow skill, saying that she might have been born with the weapon in her hand. It was the only thing she was really good at and she certainly was much better at it than that ego-inflated ranger. He may have bested her in those little games they'd had before, but they were all flukes. The first time he'd cheated the rules, claiming accuracy over quantity and the second time she'd gotten bolted and had no chance to take down the two crossbowmen, which he had killed to even up their score.

She intentionally aimed her shot off to the side a mere quarter of an inch and then set her arrow loose. It hit home at the top of the pole and dislodged Bishop's arrow at the same time.

He shot her a glare. "Show off."

She produced a playful grin in response

The challenge progressed, lasting hours on end and either of them had yet to miss a shot. The small group of natives eventually grew into a large audience, who watched the action with interest, eager to see who would come out the victor. Small bets were being placed on the outcome. They were wagering items, fruit, jugs of 'the Water of Life', crops, and even one bold gambler wagered some of his livestock.

There were also a number of arrows sticking out of random places around the village, as well as outside of it. Feathered shafts stuck out of trees, roofs, the sides of shelters, in support poles, and one native had the misfortune of walking into the path of an on-coming arrow, getting nicked in the process, but the arrow still found its mark despite the slight obstruction. Bishop cursed the man to the hells for getting in the way.

Since that particular native had unintentionally gotten involved in the challenge, Jaelyn decided to use him to mix things up. She had him place random objects around the village for them to shoot down and to collect arrows when they ran out.

Currently, there was a clay jug placed on the edge of the cliff north of the village. Jaelyn and Bishop stood in the midst of the village center, judging the distance, which was close to three hundred yards away. Jaelyn had called this shot, but she had yet to make it.

"Yeah, right." the ranger commented, skeptically, as he squinted at the jug. "You aren't going to hit that; you can barely even see it."

She smiled at him. "I can see it just fine. Maybe you can't."

"Go on, then. Can't wait to see this."

Jaelyn set her arrow loose and it traveled a long ways before they heard the confirmatory clink and crunch as the jug exploded into tiny shards. The native she had chosen earlier to set things up for them began making his way for the cliff to set up the next jug.

"Well, it's not my longest shot ever, but it'll do." Jaelyn commented, smiling.

For a long moment, the ranger merely stared in the direction of the cliff, frowning, then he gave her a suspicious glance.

"If you're cheating, you better hope I don't find out how you did it."

"Is it really so terrible that someone should be better than you at something?" she countered.

"Only if they're cheating."

"I wouldn't cheat. I'll leave that kind of behavior to you."

"I don't need to cheat. I've got nothing to lose. You do."

"I'd say your pride as an archer and a man is at stake, but then I'm sure that's probably taken a beating before."

"Watch yourself, girl." he warned.

Jaelyn nodded ahead. "There, it's your shot."

The native had gotten there fast and was now making his way back down again, leaving behind a jug exactly like the one Jaelyn had shot down moments ago on the edge of the cliff.

It took Bishop longer to aim this time and the moment he loosed his arrow, Jaelyn knew it was a miss. It nicked the jug, but it still remained in one piece.

Bishop swore under his breath and Jaelyn tried (and failed) to hide her grin. There was just something oddly satisfying about watching him struggle. She wished Quin was well enough to come watch this.

Even though Bishop didn't have to try for the shot again, he did nonetheless. He had to make that shot, by the gods. It was a matter of pride.

He set up his shot again, which took even longer, but this time when he finally let the arrow go, it hit the jug, shattering it. He immediately set her with a withering look.

"Don't say anything."

Jaelyn put her hands out helplessly, yet retaining a grin. "I wasn't. You always think I'm going to say something."

"That's 'cause you're always thinking about saying something."

He was definitely going to get her back for this. Damn drow.

A good part of him was incredibly peeved at her for humiliating him at something he was good at, yet another part of him actually wanted to see how good she really was. Her skill was almost supernatural. How could she be this good without a proper mentor? Everything she'd learned came from a damn dragon, where as he'd learned from a hunter who was drunk out of his mind half the time, but still a skilled hunter nonetheless. The man had known what he was doing. Dragons were knowledgeable, fine, but there were some things you had to learn beyond just hearing about it. Someone had to show her how to use that bow.

Before he knew it or could control it, he was voicing his thought.

"How could you have learned this if you were raised by dragons?"

"I told you before, Weilsung taught me everything I know." said Jaelyn, an answer the ranger suspected she would give him.

"You're going to stand there and tell me a dragon taught you how to use a bow? Come off it."

She laughed. "What's so hard to believe about that? Weilsung told me what to do and I just kept trying it until I got it right. Took years of practice, I won't lie. Without someone to physically show you what you're doing wrong and right, it's hard to learn. You know, I wasn't lying when I said I learned by experience."

He said nothing.

He was hoping it had been all lies; knowing that it was true only made him respect her. She truly had relied upon herself to survive. The dragon may have told her things, but she was the one that tried them until she got them right without anyone to aid her.

That part of her was deserving of respect, but it was the only respect he was ever going to allow her and he certainly wasn't going to admit it to her. He knew better than to do that; that was the type of thing that got thrown back in your face during heated arguments and with as many arguments as they had, he didn't want to give her more ammunition. It was a secret that was going to die with him.

"Well, come on," Jaelyn said. "Set up your next shot."

His mouth twitched into the remnant of a smirk. "Didn't know you were in such a hurry to lose."

"Don't start your trash talk again. You're not as good at it as you think." she retorted.

He shrugged. "Then I'll let my bow talk for me."

"Whatever will get you to shut up."

Bishop shot her a mean look and she grinned back, pleased with herself for riling him.

"One of these days, drow, you're going to learn to stop talking to me like that."

"I only do it because I like you so much." she replied, sarcastically.

"Then you won't have any problem finding your way to my bed, or me finding my way to yours."

Jaelyn scoffed, her eyes narrowing. "You're always on with that lecherous talk. Something tells me you're just putting up a front. Has it really been that long for you?"

He laughed, amused at the insult and then he leaned toward her.

"Why, you planning on alleviating the drought?"

"Not on your life." she replied without hesitation.

"Oh, come now, I'm not all that bad."

At his mocking, she frowned, sourly. "No, you're worse."

"Oh, yeah? Well, it must not be a problem for you considering how hard you seem to be fighting for my affection."

She shifted uncomfortably, getting angry.

"I don't want your affection. It would likely come with strings attached."

He put a hand over his chest, feigning injury. "Your words wound me. What, you think I'm stupid or something? If you didn't want my attention, you wouldn't have tried tricking me before. So, come off it."

And now he was getting angry.

"It worked." she shot back. "And you damn well know it. You just don't want to admit it."

"Yeah, I can admit a few things, actually. For one, you had absolutely no idea what you were doing, which became even more apparent when you kissed me, or whatever it was you were trying to do. And another thing, the entire trick was just some desperate attempt to get my attention, and it failed."

Jaelyn was furious. She was furious and embarrassed. She didn't want to do what she was about to do, but she didn't care. He deserved it.

"Did it? If it failed, then why were you in my shelter last night?"

He feigned ignorance, though his gut gave a little twist of panic. How in the Nine Hells did she know? He'd been careful, making sure no one had seen him. No one had even been around, so there was no way she could know it was him.

"What're you talking about?"

She rolled her eyes. "Don't play dumb." She wished just for once that he'd tell the truth. It didn't stop him any other time. "I know it was you. I'm not that stupid. You're the only one that was in the cave."

He frowned, brows drawn together. "I still don't know what you're talking about."

"The ruby. There, does that clarify things?"

"No." There was no hesitation.

"You're a fool. Feral was napping under my bed when you came in. He saw you."

Damn bear...or cat...or whatever in the hells it was! He'd completely forgotten about that thing. How in the hells could he have forgotten? Well, it really didn't matter. He should've known better than to give that damn ruby away in the first place. He knew that if she ever found out it was him she was going to throw it back in his face, as she was doing now. This was part of the reason why he never did nice things. Those things were always used against you in the long run. What was it that had made him do it in the first place?

_Debt; to pay her back for saving your life...again_, reasoned Reason. _Then you didn't owe her anything._

Right. And where did it get him? Exactly where he had expected; pissed off because she had used it against him.

"Yeah, fine." he said, seething. "It was me. But don't look too much into the gesture, drow. I did it because, as much as I hate to admit it, you saved my ass when I was fighting that naga, and I owed you. And I'm not going to be indebted to you. Or anyone else."

Jaelyn shook her head in exasperation. "Well, I wasn't looking to be paid back for saving your life. I did it because you were in danger and you could've died, and despite how mean you are to me and to everyone else around you, I still don't have any desire to see you die. Like I said before, not everything has to end in a debt."

"It does for me!" Bishop growled. "No one does anything for free. I don't care what you say. Someone is always looking to hold something over you, to hold power over you and keep you a prisoner."

She was studying him closely, trying to determine what was making him this angry.

"Someone must've done something terrible to you to make you think that." she said, her voice now calm and gentle. "Not everyone is like that, you know."

He laughed bitterly. "Right. So says the drow who's hid from society her entire life."

"And that's precisely what makes me different from them." she countered. "I would never do something like that, not to you and not to anyone else."

"Of course not. You just like throwing things back in people's face."

Jaelyn flinched a little. "I wasn't trying to throw it back in your face, I was just trying to get you to admit that you did it."

"Save it. I'm done with this. And you can go find someone else to train these fools, 'cause I'm not doing it."

"Don't take your anger at me out on them."

Bishop made a belligerent step toward her and Jaelyn immediately took a defensive step back. His inflamed gaze bore into her.

"Don't tell me what to do." His voice was low, cold, and threatening. "Or you'll regret it, I promise you that."

He turned and stormed off.

Jaelyn called after him to no avail. He just kept striding off in his bellicose manner. Gods help anyone that crossed his path. Stupid, short-tempered man.

With a deep, dreadful sigh, she looked around to find several native faces staring at her, some of them looking a bit uneasy while others were smiling curiously and wondering what argument had just unfolded.

"What're you all staring at?" she said in drow. "Go on, the show's over and so is the lesson."

The assembled natives broke apart and headed off to other destinations, leaving Jaelyn there with her biggest problem yet.

How in the hells was she going to train a whole village in melee when she herself had no experience in the field?


	20. Chapter 20: Leverage

**xxxxxx**

* * *

**Chapter Twenty:**

**Leverage**

**xxxxxx**

**The** following morning, Jaelyn stood in the threshold of Quin's shelter just as the halfling was waking up. In her hands, she held something wrapped in old cloth and there was a smile on her face.

Quin yawned, stretched, and then sat up in the slow, groggy fashion of one who has just arisen. His hair was a blond, unkempt mess around his head and after rubbing the sleep from his ocean-blue eyes, he set them on her.

"How long have you been standing there?" he asked. "You wouldn't be watching me sleep, now would you?"

Jaelyn chuckled. "That would be a little creepy, wouldn't you say? I haven't been here long. I came by because I need your help and...I wanted to give you something."

The halfling's brows rose in curiosity. "Give something to me? I wonder what it is."

Jaelyn strode over to him, sitting herself on the side of his bed. She looked at the cloth bundle in her hands and then gestured it to the halfling.

"Something strange happened for me to get this, but...it's yours."

Quin took the proffered gift in astonishment. Then he grinned and began eagerly removing the cloth. An enormous ruby sat in the halfling's cupped hands, the gem rivaling the size of them. His eyes lit up in wonder and his mouth dropped open a little.

"Holy Tymora." he breathed, turning the jewel over in his hands. "Ive never seen a ruby that big before. I've never seen any jewel this big."

He looked up at her. "Isn't this the one you were talking about before? I thought you left it behind."

"I did. Someone else didn't."

Quin made a confused face. "The ranger?"

Jaelyn shrugged and then nodded. "Yeah, for whatever reason. It doesn't matter. It's yours."

The halfling looked at the gem again and an expression of worry came over his face.

"Jaelyn...I hope you didn't have to do something you didn't want to just to get this from him."

She smiled, touched by his concern for her. "No, nothing like that. Actually, you'd be surprised; he gave it freely."

"Freely?" Quin replied, dubiously. "Tell me the truth, Jaelyn."

"No, really. Well, okay, not exactly free. He's just paying me back for saving his life, is what he said."

"Saving his life?"

"That naga I told you about almost killed him." she explained. "Grimnar and I arrived just in time. The ruby is yours to do with what you will."

Quin smiled. "Thanks, Jae."

He lifted the ruby to eye level, closing one eye to look through the gem's center. "I wonder what I should do with this. I can't wear it or fashion it onto my rapier, it's too big. I guess I could sell it if we ever get to the mainland. I wonder how much a ruby this size could get."

"A great deal." Jaelyn said, smiling. "You'll probably be the richest halfling in Faerun."

"Now, that would be something." he said. "So, you said you needed my help?"

"Yes, I need the directions to the place you were held. We need to get the weapons that are there."

"Great! I got a map from the place the drow kept me at that should come in handy. The less weapons those bastard drow-sorry-have, the better."

"Heh, that's what Gulaonar said."

"I want to go with you."

Jaelyn gave a faint frown. "I don't think that's a good idea, Quin. You were just tortured by them. You should rest."

"I'm fine." he assured her. "Really. Only my leg was injured and it wasn't injured all that bad. Who have you got going with you so far?"

She smiled. "Just me."

"What? How do you expect to get all these weapons by yourself? And what if there are drow? You can't think about going alone, that's suicide!"

"I guess I could try and enlist Grimnar, and maybe Gulaonar will come with me."

"What about Bishop? Surely he'll want to come."

"Probably not. I made him angry yesterday. He's already refusing to help me train the natives. I don't even know what to do about that."

Quin shook his head. "I don't care how good he is at tracking and all that. He's not worth all this trouble. I say we threaten to leave him here on this island if he doesn't help."

"That'll likely get us both killed." she said and then mulled it over some more. "But you know, he's got it coming to him, so I think I will do that, or at least something near to that."

"Good girl." Quin replied with his trademark grin. "And I'll back you up. So, when are we heading out?"

"Whenever we're ready. I should probably see if I can collect a small group of natives to come with us. We aren't going to be able to carry all these weapons back with just three of us. So, while you are getting ready to leave, I'll see to that. Are you sure your well enough to come?"

"Yes, yes." Quin replied, waving a dismissive hand. "Get going; I'll meet you in the village center when I'm ready."

Jaelyn nodded, got up from the bed and headed out.

She paused at the door. "Since you have a map, see if Gulaonar will mark the location of the cliff cave on it. There are some weapons there as well."

At the halflings nod, she left his shelter.

She made her way for Olland's shelter to ask his permission to take a few of the natives with her. They would have to be men and ones that were strong. Strong men were definitely going to be needed to bring all these weapons back.

As usual, Grimnar and Akereth were standing guard outside Olland's shelter. Akereth greeted her with a warm smile as she approached.

"Good morning, Jaelyn."

"Good morning yourself. Is Olland in? I need to speak with him."

"Yes, and he said if you came by to just let you go in." Akereth replied. "Olland has taken to you. He's already calling you a savior of our people."

Jaelyn's features went wide in shock. "Savior? I haven't even done anything yet."

"On the contrary, you've done a lot for us, just as Gulaonar has. He's been a hero of our people for a long time, dead or not. His deeds have been written into our history, just as you and your companions' will, I'm certain. My father has already begun writing about you. He calls you 'the good drow', the one unlike the others. He plans to speak to your small companion about how he escaped imprisonment and saved the children that had been kidnapped. That should make for a great story in our history, especially for the children rescued. They will be able to read it when they are older and understand what they survived and know of the heroes that had saved them. What is the name of the small one?"

"Quince." Jaelyn replied with a smile. "Quince Bramblebrow."

Akereth nodded. "Quince Bramblebrow. I'll be sure to tell my father. Well, don't let me keep you. I'm sure you have a lot to discuss with our leader."

"Actually, I may need your help."

"My help? I'll do what I can, then. What do you need me to do?"

"Well, I have to get your leader's permission first, but I need a handful of able-bodied men to accompany my companions and I to the places we know the drow are storing weapons, to help bring them back."

Akereth nodded. "You can count on me, then."

"I knew I could." she replied with a smile.

Jaelyn put a hand on his shoulder as she walked past and disappeared into Olland's shelter. Akereth's sapphire gaze followed her and a smile widened his mouth.

Grimnar grunted with disapproval and shook his head.

"Stick your eyes back in their sockets, Akereth." he said in the native tongue. "You're only going to find trouble with her."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because another has his eyes on her." Grimnar replied. "And I'm certain that he's one to make sure his are the only eyes that watch her."

Akereth stared levelly at Grimnar. "I know of whom you speak and she has told me she has no feelings for him. He had his chance, now it's mine."

Grimnar shook his head. "He'll kill you, Akereth."

"He can try."

"He will do." Grimnar sighed. "You are not thinking clearly. Even if you should avoid her dark companion's wrath, and you and her should fall in love, you must remember that she is not from here. She will eventually have to return to the mainland. Is this all really worth the pain of having to let her go in the end? Believe me, Akereth, I know what it's like to lose someone you love. You don't want to feel that pain."

"It's worth it, Grimnar. It's worth it if I can give her a reason to stay."

"Can you really ask her to give up everything-her home-to stay here with you? You've only just met her!"

"But my father's predictions were correct. When I came of age, he said I would fall in love with a woman from across the sea and she would be a heroine to our people."

"You should not love someone because of a prediction, you should love them because you admire them, because you trust and respect them, because the world does not feel the same without them in it." Grimnar replied. "Predictions should have nothing to do with love. You said she feels nothing for her companion?"

Akereth nodded. "That's what she said and I believe her."

"She lies. I traveled with them. One would have to be blind to not see it."

Akereth frowned. "Then why would she tell me she didn't?"

Grimnar couldn't suppress his smile and he reached over and put an arm around his comrade. "Young and stupid you are, but you'll learn. She denies it because she is afraid of him. I saw it very clearly once, a few days ago when we were in a cave. He said something that hurt her and she struck him. Afterward, she was still furious, but there was something else there in her eyes; it was fear, like she thought he'd strike her back. There is a lot of tension between them, tension that goes deep."

"I'd kill him if he ever struck her." Akereth said firmly. "I swear it on the island. He may harbor something for her, but I believe Jaelyn when she says she holds no feelings for that man."

"You have a good heart, but that's not going to be enough to save you if the other one thinks you're moving in on her." Grimnar assured him. "Forget about her."

"I can't. I already have feelings for her."

"Then forget them."

"You say it as if it were so simple. Could you forget the way you feel for your wife?"

A flash of pain crossed Grimnar's gruff visage and he slowly shook his head, eyes on the ground. "No, I could not. But I...I knew her for more than half of my life. You've known Jaelyn for only a number of days, and you're confessing love? Don't you see how ridiculous that is?"

"Just because it took you a long time to fall in love doesn't mean it can't happen in less time for someone else."

Grimnar's face contorted into a heated frown. "You are being foolish, Akereth!"

"If you're going to get insulting, then I am finished talking about this." the younger man said. "It's my life."

"Yes, it is, but if you don't forget about her, it's going to be short-lived." Grimnar warned in an icy tone.

The large man sniffed and turned away while Akereth glowered at him.

Moments later, Jaelyn came out of Olland's shelter and smiled at Akereth, who returned it weakly. Her gaze shifted between both men and she swore one could almost grab at the tension in the air. Something had happened.

"Everything all right?"

"Yes." Akereth replied without pause. "Did Lord Olland agree to lend you some of our people?"

"Yes, and he said you could come as well. Can you gather about seven strong men together? I need to go, uh...talk someone into something and it's going to take some work."

"I can." Akereth replied. "We'll wait for you here at Lord Olland's shelter."

Jaelyn nodded and then hurried off toward the village center.

Grimnar turned and latched a hand onto Akereth's arm just as he was about to leave to gather some men together.

"Watch them." he said. "Watch how they look at one another, watch how they act toward each other. Only then will you see."

Akereth jerked his arm away. "I've seen them together before and I see that she feels nothing for him."

"Then you are blind."

**xxxxxxxxxx**

Quin and Jaelyn stood in the threshold of Bishop's shelter, both of them looking anxious. Jaelyn fiddled with the hem of her tunic while Quin leaned back against the frame of the threshold, arms crossed and a frown on his face.

The ranger was buried somewhere beneath a mound of blankets and pillows and the only part of him visible was an arm that hung limply over the side of the bed. It was a bit surprising to see him asleep past dawn, when he was normally up with it or just before it. It was already close to mid morning.

Near his unmoving hand was a collection of clay jugs that Jaelyn knew for a fact had once contained some strong islander whiskey known as the Water of Life.

Great, he'd gotten himself drunk. That meant he was going to be crankier than usual, which in turn would make her job of talking him into coming with them that much more difficult.

But she had to deal with one problem at a time.

Her current issue was how to wake him without getting knifed in the process.

Jaelyn nudged Quin with her elbow and then looked down at him.

"You wake him this time. You're short. If he tries to attack you, he'll miss."

Quin shook his head violently. "Nuh uh, I'm not taking any chances."

"I gave you that ruby."

"You said it was a gift."

Jaelyn sighed. "Why do I always get stuck with this job?"

"Because, as I've told you before, he's less likely to kill you."

"That's not true...especially not after yesterday."

Quin prodded Jaelyn forward with a grin. "Go on, I'm right behind you."

Jaelyn stepped timidly into the shelter, keeping silent, and Quin followed behind.

"I hope he's not naked under there." the halfling remarked in a whisper. "You know how he likes to sleep in the nude."

"I wish I didn't know; thank you so much for reminding me, and right after I had finally gotten rid of those mental images." she retorted and felt a blush creeping up her neck.

Quin gave her a sly look. "So, you've been thinking about him naked?"

Jaelyn sputtered and hissed, "What? No! That's not what I meant!...Oh, just shut up!"

Quin snickered.

They reached the side of the bed and stood there a moment to gather courage.

Jaelyn reached out a hand to grab the blankets just as Bishop groaned and shifted. She froze as his hand moved, brushed her leg, and then disappeared into the folds of his blankets.

She was surprised that he didn't wake up. And she noted that she was holding her breath, as was Quin.

They both breathed at the same moment and Jaelyn finally grabbed the blankets and yanked them back from his head, revealing a top-bare, disheveled ranger, asleep on his stomach.

She stared. She stared for such a time that she forgot where she was and what she was doing as the memory of touching him and kissing him strutted shamelessly across her mind. She remembered well the warm skin, hard muscle, the scent and taste of him...

Goosebumps rippled over her skin.

Quin elbowed her back to reality.

"Mmm...what?" she mumbled, blinking.

"Stare any harder and your eyes are going to fall out of your head."

Jaelyn flushed. "Shut up. I wasn't staring."

"Sure you weren't." Quin smirked.

Jaelyn's hand hesitantly fell on the ranger's shoulder and she tried desperately to ignore the feel of his skin under her palm. She shook him gently. There was a moment where nothing happened and then Bishop's groggy, rough, and muffled voice filled the silence.

"You're about to lose that hand if you don't get it away from me."

The drow plopped down on the bed beside him and shook him again, with enthusiasm this time. "Come on, it's time you were up."

He made a sound, a scoff that was muffled by a pillow. "I don't need a mother, drow."

She chuckled. "I wasn't aware that something like you could have a mother."

Jaelyn reached out and snatched the pillow from over his head. He reacted almost immediately, turning over to grab her, but his hand found thin air instead. Jaelyn stood up out of his reach and had the pillow in front of her just in case he came up with a weapon, but he gave up on trying to get her back. The light of the day was doing a good job of hampering his fight as well as giving him a splitting headache.

He laid back over with a groan and pulled the blankets over his head. "Since you're here, why don't you make yourself useful and go find me some coffee."

Jaelyn made a face and Quin laughed, unable to help himself. The halfling found some of the ranger's antics amusing, even if they weren't meant to be humorous.

"Traitor." the drow said to the halfling and Quin put out his hands helplessly.

She drew up to the side of the bed again and boldly smacked the ranger on his backside with the pillow. "I said 'get up'. What part of that don't you understand?"

He rolled over fast and Jaelyn backed up, cautiously, holding the pillow out in front of her again. Quin stood at her side, his hand resting at the hilt of his rapier just in case.

The ranger reached out quick despite being hungover and yanked the pillow away from Jaelyn, setting his fuming gaze on her.

"Out." he growled. "The both of you."

Jaelyn frowned, drew herself up, and stuck her hands on her hips. "We're not going anywhere."

Bishop's narrowed gaze flicked over to his dagger, which lay on the small table near his bed. Jaelyn caught that gaze, understood what he meant to do and then they both reached for the weapon at the same moment.

Jaelyn beat him to it and once the dagger was in her hand, she backed away out of his reach.

Offering a smug smile, she lifted the knife to eye level and looked it over carefully, turning it in her hands and admiring the craftsmanship.

The eight inch blade was well cared for, sharpened, polished and it had a very slight curve in it. The handle was made of some kind of bone, probably whale bone, an odd choice for a skinning knife; bone was tough but it stained, and yet there wasn't a stain on it. On one side of the handle, Bishop's name was craved into it. Jaelyn ran her thumb over it, noted that not a speck of dirt sullied the engraving.

Jaelyn mused. Of all his equipment, this seemingly worthless knife was the most cared for. Hells, he didn't even care for his bow this well. It may have looked paltry, but it was valuable to him for some reason and she wondered where he'd gotten it.

She finally looked away from the knife to find Bishop giving her a withering glare.

"Give it back." He left no room for defiance, yet as always, she found some place to defy him.

Smirking, she fingered the tip of the knife and twisted the handle in her hands.

"This is a very nice knife." she remarked. "Very well cared for. It must mean a lot to you."

He sneered at her, not liking where this was going. "What? You gonna try to get in my head about that, too?"

She shook her head. "No, but you didn't deny it, so that means it must be true. With that being said, if you want this knife back, you're going to do as I say."

"What?" he demanded, slowly, in outrage.

"You heard what I said. You insist on being difficult and mean, well, guess what? I can be that way as well. I don't want to have to do this, but you're making me do it."

He stood so fast from his bed that both Jaelyn and Quin took a few cautionary steps back, even though they were both armed and the ranger wasn't. Jaelyn had a quick moment to realize how odd the reaction was, given that fact, but how it also seemed appropriate as well. One didn't want to be within Bishop's reach when he had that look on his face; the one where he looks like he's going to kill someone, even if he has to do it with his bare hands.

And then they noticed something else. It was the Seawolf cabin all over again. What was it with this man and his inability to sleep with clothes on, with _anything_ on?

"Ah, come on!" Quin complained, throwing a hand over his eyes. "You could at least cover yourself with the blankets. I mean, really! Have some consideration for the people at my height."

Jaelyn was barely enduring a full-body blush as she kept her eyes glued on the ceiling and kept his knife behind her back.

"I said 'give it back'." Bishop said in an ominous voice, ignoring the halfling's protests. "And that's the last time I'm going to say it, the next time I'm just going to take it."

He could've tried for it while the drow was preoccupied with trying to not look at him, but he had a feeling the half-man would jump to her defense and he was armed with something sharp, while the ranger's bits and pieces were protected by only thin air. That usually didn't end well.

"I'll give it back; I'll be glad to give it back. Once you agree to help us."

"You can both go to the Hells."

"We'll meet you there." she retorted, still staring at the ceiling. "In the meantime, me, Quin and a few natives are going to confiscate some weapons from the drow. We'll be waiting for you in the village center. If you don't show up, this knife of yours is going to find a nice home at the bottom of the sea."

She turned on her heel, then, mostly because she was tired of looking up and she didn't want to see the look on his face, even if she could've summoned the courage to look at him while he was in the buff. She also wanted to hurry up and get away from him in case he had some kind of retaliation in mind.

She grabbed Quin by the elbow and they both left the ranger standing there in his boiling fury.

"I'm going to get you back for this, you little bitch. Just wait and see."

**xxxxxxxxxx**

"I don't think it worked." Quin said as they walked toward Olland's shelter. "I mean, come on, it's just a knife."

Jaelyn shook her head. "No, it's important. He'll come."

She was sure of this. She may not understand or know Bishop that well, but what she did know for certain was that he didn't care about anything, yet he seemed to care a great deal about this knife. Sure, it was common practice for a ranger to care for their equipment, but it was the way he cared for the knife. Most people wouldn't go through the trouble of making sure the bone didn't stain or dirt didn't get into the engraving. It was all very meticulous, and Bishop wasn't usually a meticulous person, not like this.

This was probably the only time she'd be able to predict what he'd do. Well, she could also predict what he was going to do to her after this was all over, but she didn't want to think about dying at the moment.

"Maybe we should've left well enough alone." Quin said. "He's going to be in an awfully foul mood from now on."

She snorted. "I doubt we'll be able to tell the difference from how he normally acts. Let him be in a foul mood. The bastard brought it on himself. If he'd just help, I wouldn't have had to go this far. It's not like it's going to hurt him any to lend a hand. He's just doing it to be an asshole."

"That's who he is."

She shook her head. "If that were true, he never would've given me that ruby."

"He's only paying back a debt."

Jaelyn shrugged. "But he didn't have to."

"But-"

She sighed. "Enough, Quin. I've made up my mind and I'm not backing down. Besides, the deeds done now."

"All right, suit yourself." the halfling conceded. "I just hope you know what you're doing."

Jaelyn hoped she did, too. She had to admit, this was a bit bold of her and she was anxious of the consequences. She also felt a little guilty for having done this to Bishop, even if she knew she shouldn't feel that way. As she had told Quin, he had brought it on himself. It didn't have to come to this.

Jaelyn and Quin met Akereth and a group of seven native men at Olland's shelter. They each carried a club-like weapon or at least a very large stick. Akereth greeted the two companions with a smile.

"So, are we ready?" he asked in drow.

Jaelyn shook her head. "Not yet. We're waiting on my other companion. Meanwhile, I need to ask a favor of you."

Akereth nodded and Jaelyn produced Bishop's knife.

"Take this, and hide it in your home."

Jaelyn didn't want to bring Akereth into the middle of all this, but she couldn't think of anyone she trusted more with the task. She knew without a doubt that Bishop would corner her sooner or later and search her for his knife. She didn't want to be in possession of it when he did and she didn't want anyone else around him to be in possession of it, either. She was going to make sure he helped these natives, one way or another. And that knife was her leverage.

Akereth's brows crinkled in confusion. His blue eyes searched her green ones.

"Hide it? Why? It seems like this could assist us in our journey."

Jaelyn shook her head. "This knife is the only way you're going to learn to fight, but in order for that to happen you have to hide it."

"I don't understand."

She smiled. "You don't need to. Just trust me and hide it. Don't tell anyone where it is, either. I'm sure none of your people would go as far as to steal something, but I don't want to take the chance."

Akereth nodded and strode off in the direction of his home on the other side of the village.

"You gave him the knife." Quin noted.

"To hide it." she replied. "He's not getting it back until he helps."

Quin grinned. "Good thinking. No doubt the ranger will think you have that knife on you. Boy, is he in for a surprise."

Jaelyn joined in the grinning, but said nothing.

The halfling's remark seemed to invoke the ranger's presence, for he was storming out of his shelter toward them at that moment and as was apparent by his stride and as was also expected, he was in a very foul mood. The evidence of it was also plastered all over his face. This was going to be a long day.

Jaelyn turned toward him slightly, not bothering to hide her smile under his seething expression.

"Glad to see you've made the right decision." she said, boldly.

"You didn't really leave me a choice, now did you?" he spat. "You're going to regret taking that knife. Mark my words."

She shrugged, coldly. "I'm sure I will. You've made me regret a lot of things."

_Lies_, said a voice.

_Oh, shut up_, she shot back inwardly.

"Good." was all he said on the matter and it was said in a bitter, frustrated, and irritated tone. "So, what're we waiting for? Let's go and get this shit over with."

"We're waiting for Akereth."

"Who?"

"One of Olland's guards." Jaelyn replied and then turned to Quin. "You have the map? And did Gulaonar mark the cliff cave on the map?"

"I got it right here and yes."

"Good, give it to Bishop."

Quin looked up at her for a long moment. Then: "Why?"

"Because he's going to be leading us."

"Again, why?"

Jaelyn looked down at him. "Because he's good at it and he's going to do it, anyway, so we might as well not even fight it."

Quin sighed. "Fine, but if I led us to where I was kept prisoner, we'd get there faster."

She shrugged and jerked her thumb behind her at the ranger. "Then take it up with him."

And Quin did just that.

The two males argued for several moments, much to Jaelyn's irritation. Quin was violent with his gesticulating and Bishop was excessive in his verbal abuse. Why did talking to that idiot ranger always have to end up in some pointless argument?

She tried her best to ignore them and then noticed Akereth returning from his home.

"Oh, good! Akereth's coming!" she announced loudly to cut through the arguing and hopefully end it, but she didn't have that kind of luck.

Her companions stopped bickering long enough to give her a look and then they started up again.

"Why can't you let someone else lead for once?" Quin was saying.

"Because I don't want to be led into a drow ambush or something worse, that's why." Bishop replied.

"But I've already been out that way, there's nothing dangerous."

"Says you and we all know how competent you are."

"Yeah, we do. More competent than you. At least Jaelyn doesn't have to hold my possessions ransom just to get me to do something decent."

"No, you just get yourself caught by the drow." the ranger shot back. "I say we shouldn't even trust you at all, anymore. They tortured you and there's no telling what you told them."

Quin's face contorted in rage. He was furious and he could not contain it. He wasn't angry because of what Bishop said, he was angry because the bastard was right.

Quin was about to strike out at him, but Jaelyn caught him up and bent quickly to his level so they were eye to eye. She felt him trembling in his rage. When Quin's flaming blue eyes fell on her green ones, she shook her head, solemnly.

"You're only giving him what he wants." she said and then flicked her green eyes over toward Bishop, who was smirking slightly.

She stood up.

"He has no gall to say anything." she said to Quin, but kept her knowing gaze on the ranger. "I've seen him in pain before, excruciating pain, and I'm almost positive that he would cave in long before you would."

The ranger's smirk left, just like that.

Strange what a few well-placed words could do. Maybe next time he'll think twice about saying something mean. Stupid jerk.

"Bitch." Bishop said through a sneer.

Jaelyn shrugged, uncaring. "I don't have to be, you know. In fact, I can be exceptionally nice, but you don't bring that out in me."

He scoffed. "Yeah, and you shouldn't let people affect you that way. You give them control over yourself."

"What, so I can be just like you? Cold, heartless, incapable of feeling anything? No, thanks. I'd rather let them control me. At least then I'd know I'm still human."

"You're not human." he shot back just to hurt her. "Or did you forget that little fact?"

It worked, but she hid it well. Technically, it was the truth. She wasn't human. She was elf, but she knew his remark was meant to be insulting.

She didn't bother hiding her disdain. "I'm more human than you."

Jaelyn turned away from him, hiding her frown. She didn't like this side of herself, she didn't like the words she was saying. She just wished they could both get along, but she was beginning to think such a thing was beyond him. Every time they were getting along, he pushed a wrong button to have them at each other's throat again. True, her tricking him before didn't exactly help matters, but he had forced her to do it, just as he had forced her now into holding his knife hostage until he did the right thing. She knew that every time they started getting along, he was going to keep pushing away. Jaelyn feared he was going to keep pushing until he was permanently out of her reach. The gods knew it was hard enough to get any where near him at all. The question was why he felt the need to do it in the first place. Was it truly fear? What was he so damn afraid of? He had to be capable of feeling something. If he didn't, he wouldn't push away and fight back so much. A truly emotionless person wouldn't even bother, but he tried hard at keeping everything at bay. He was afraid of getting close, afraid of forming an attachment. If that fear was there, then somewhere in his life, he'd lost someone close or someone had hurt him. That was the only thing she could think of that could put such a fear in someone like him. Of course, there was so much more about him that she didn't understand that might also attribute to his avoidance of attachment, but getting him to open up about anything was impossible. He had that fortress around himself, something made of nearly impenetrable walls. One could stand at the gates easily enough, seeking entrance, but they were just as easily sent running.

Jaelyn suddenly became aware of the world, a hand on her shoulder, and a voice calling her in the tongue of the drow.

She blinked. "Huh?"

Akereth smiled but his brows were creased. "I said, we should probably go now."

"Oh, right." She turned to the halfling. "The map, Quin."

Quin lifted a brow. "He's already got it."

"Oh..." she said and cleared her throat nervously under the ten sets of eyes on her. She straightened her bow across her chest, pulled at the collar of her leather tunic. "Right. Off we go, then."

She marched off in a northerly direction, then paused. She scratched her head a moment and then came back, moving around the ranger to prod him in the back.

"Let's go, 'leader'."

The odd group of halfling, drow, and men began their journey north, in search of weapons.


	21. Chapter 21: The Importance of a Knife

**xxxxxx**

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-One:**

**The Importance Of A Knife**

**xxxxxx**

**The** group pushed on until nightfall.

When Bishop finally decided to call it a day and make camp, the natives nearly collapsed out of exhaustion. They had been traveling almost nonstop since they'd left the village and the ranger had them traveling at a quick, steady pace.

Jaelyn and Quin were unfazed by it, having grown used to it from their own experiences and over the course of their travels, but the natives weren't prone to traveling long distances at such a pace.

The natives were all kneeling or laying on the ground, moaning, holding their ribs, and struggling to catch their breath.

"Jeez," Quin said, looking at them and almost fearing one of them just might die or at the very least, faint. "How about you go a little easier on them the next time, ranger? They're all about to pass out. They're not used to this as we are."

Bishop shrugged. "Then they better _get_ used it. You think the drow are going to go easy on them? It'll do these fools some good to be pushed to their limits for once."

After taking a drink from her canteen, Jaelyn looked up at him from her knelt position.

"I thought you weren't going to concern yourself with helping them?"

He shot her a narrow-eyed glare.

"I wasn't, but what choice do I have? We both know you're going to keep my knife until I help you train them. You should probably just keep it for good, drow. I'm already planning the unpleasant things I intend to do to you with it."

She smiled, deciding to ignore that last remark. "What's so important about that knife? It doesn't look very valuable."

"It's just mine; that's all that matters and that's all you need to know."

Jaelyn sighed and her smile slipped away. "Why do you have to do that? Why do you have to be so closed off all the time?"

"Why do you have to ask so many questions?"

"Because I want to know you."

He smirked, grimly. "No, you don't. And you're never going to, either. I'm not giving you something else to use against me or to throw back in my face. I learned my lesson the first time."

Jaelyn frowned. "I told you before, that wasn't what I meant to do. I just wanted you to admit what you did. If you just would've told the truth in the first place, I wouldn't have done anything. Why were you even trying to hide the gesture? If you truly were just paying me back for saving you, then why even bother hiding it? Unless there was another reason why you did it."

"I told you why I did it." he said, defensively. "Stop trying to make it something just because you want it to be something. I was paying back a debt and that's that."

"Then why hide it?"

_Stop pushing him, you idiot_, came the voice of Caution.

"I wasn't hiding anything." There was a simmering, fed-up look gracing his countenance and his voice was frigid.

"Yet you waited for the precise moment when I wasn't around." she pressed on, despite the alarms going off in her head. She was just asking for trouble now. "You had that gem with you the entire trip back from the shore. You had plenty of time to pay back your so called debt."

Bishop was furious, that she would get so bold as to keep pushing him when he'd made it perfectly clear that he didn't want this conversation to continue. He was furious with himself for not being careful about that stupid gem, for being so obvious about it. More than anything, he was furious with the truth he didn't want to acknowledge or admit to himself.

Part of the reason he'd given her that ruby was because he was paying back a debt, yes, but a larger part of him did it to _thank_ her for saving his life. It wasn't the first time she'd saved his ass, either. There was that time on the Seawolf when they were in the crow's nest and she'd pulled him down out of the path of a bolt that would've gone through his skull. She'd also saved him from being strangled by some vines in the forest on their first night on the island, and there were other things, too. Once, she'd protected him from Gulaonar. That was actually what surprised him more than all the other things. Those times she'd saved his life, she was evening up things between them, even if she claimed different, but there was nothing to be owed by her protecting him from the ghost, nor could she gain anything from doing it. That had been genuine.

He wondered why it mattered. What difference did it make if it was genuine or not?

It made no difference. It was just one little thing, one little gesture and she had messed up whatever effect it might have had by taking his knife to force him to do something.

Jaelyn watched him.

"Nothing to say?"

"Just drop it." he warned. "It doesn't matter why I did it; you got the damn gem, so shut up about it."

Jaelyn frowned and shook her head, solemnly. "It does matter. It matters to me. If you did it because of why I think you did it, then maybe there's still hope. Maybe that speck of light I thought I saw once really is there."

He made a face, having no clue in the hells what she was talking about.

Jaelyn met his eyes. "Give yourself a chance, Bishop."

He gave a bitter, spurning snort and turned away.

In a voice so low that only Jaelyn could hear, he said, "It's too late for that." Then he was disappearing back the way they'd come, his form fading against the trees.

Jaelyn had half the mind to go after him and shake some sense into the idiot, but she knew it was better just to let him be. She'd struck a nerve, or he'd done so himself. Whatever the case, it was best to leave him alone. She'd pushed too much this day. She hoped she didn't push too far.

He said it was too late. She knew it was never too late.

Across the camp, Akereth watched, and didn't like what he saw. Though he understood not a word they spoke, it was easy to see the tension between them that Grimnar spoke of. And as the large man had said, it was deep tension. The tall, dark, man was holding back something and Jaelyn...well, she seemed to be trying very hard at something. Her will made her companion uneasy and frustrated. Akereth wished he knew what they had been saying, for it was toward the end of their argument when his fear was confirmed. She'd said something that had made the man bitter and dismissive, and there was something in her eyes that told the young native that she had been lying about her feelings for this man. There was a powerful degree of hope and determination there in those green depths, mingled with yearning. Akereth realized she had not once looked at him that way. Grimnar had been right. She felt something for this man after all.

He looked away from the drow, who stood on the edge of their camp, staring in the direction her companion had gone off, with a worried expression on her face.

He peered deep into those woods and his face contorted into a sneer.

Akereth was angry, not with her, but with that man. This idiot had the perfect opportunity to be with her, yet he seemed to be closed off to her, he seemed to push her away. Akereth had seen the evidence of this man's feelings for her when she fought Grimnar, so why was he behaving this way? Why did he make difficult what should have been simple? If you liked someone, you expressed your feelings. There was no trick to it. But then he could ask those questions of Jaelyn as well. She had lied to him about her affection for the man. It was apparent now that she was denying the truth to herself, yet it was puzzling how determined she was when it came to him.

Had his father's prediction been wrong?

No, that couldn't be. For decades his father's predictions had come true. This would come true as well. What was happening was merely an obstacle to be overcome. Akereth would make her see that the man she sought was the wrong one for her. He would also make sure the man understood that Jaelyn was his, even if he had to do it through force.

The moment Jaelyn turned around in his direction, Akereth forced a smile on his face while inside he boiled. His gaze slipped off again in the direction the ranger had gone. His sapphire eyes darkened.

Meanwhile, the ranger found his way through the wood, having no particular destination in mind. He just wanted to get away from the drow; he needed to get her damn words out of his head.

Give himself a chance? Yeah, right. Every chance he'd ever had was taken from him. He'd lived too hard and had been let down too often in life to bother with it anymore. There was no hope for the damned, and he'd been damned the day he was born. Accepting that grim reality was the only choice he had. And he was fine with it.

It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair what he had been forced to do to survive...It had never been fair.

He shook his head, gritting his teeth in anger and frustration. He wasn't going down that road; he wasn't going to start analyzing and reexamining the past. It didn't matter anymore. It was over and dead now.

It was that damn drow's fault for making him think like this. Why was he letting her words get to him? She didn't even know what she was talking about. They were just fancy words and romantic ideas, a fairy tale of hope. It wasn't reality. There was not going to be any happy ending, not for him. He was going to survive as long as possible, he was going to live as he damn well pleased, and then one day, he was going to die. That was it; that was life: you lived and you died. If you were smart, you lived your own way and by your own rules.

But what if there could be more to it than that, than just surviving?

Bishop forced the thought out and forbade it to ever step foot in his mind again. It was ridiculous, thinking that way. Ridiculous and stupid.

Thankfully, a snapping noise tore through his thoughts and he swung in the direction of the sound, his sword clearing its sheath before he even drew his next breath.

He found himself looking down at a familiar and adorable furry face. Large, slit-pupil, and yellow eyes glared up at him, curiously.

"Oh..." the ranger muttered, disdainfully, lowering his weapon. "You."

Feral chittered in reply.

_I thought I smelled a dirty two-leg._

The ranger glared irritably down at the cat-bear. "Get lost. Your owner's in that direction, go pester her."

Feral cocked his head to one side, blinking, and chittered again.

_The two-leg is in a bad mood. Did he crawl out of the wrong hole this morning?_

"This 'two-leg' is about five seconds away from putting _you_ in a hole."

Feral lowered his head, bared his fangs, bristled, and growled low in his throat. There were no words in the growl. It was simply a foreboding sound that promised dismemberment if the ranger got bold enough to try something.

"I ought to gut you for telling that drow things she didn't need to know."

It took a moment, but the cat-bear sat back from his aggressive position and gave the ranger a mild expression.

_What? About that gem? She would've figured out it was you, anyway._

Was he really having this conversation with an animal?

Well, at least it got his mind off of other things.

Bishop sighed. It was a tired sound.

"Never mind. I'm not talking about this with an animal. Just mind your own damn business, understand?"

He turned away from the creature, sheathed his sword, and began heading back toward camp. A moment later, he heard the cat-bear bounding along behind him.

Back at camp, Jaelyn was going around making sure everyone had something to eat and drink, and had something to sleep on when she heard the noise, a small rustling sound, from the edge of camp.

She turned just in time to see Bishop returning.

"I found something that belongs to you, drow." he said, making his way to a remote corner of their little encampment, where he was far away from everyone else.

Jaelyn looked over to see Feral come barreling at her from behind the ranger's stride. The cat-bear leaped through the air at her and she caught him in mid-flight, his weight causing her to fall back a step. She laughed when the creature covered her face in vigorous licks of affection.

"What're you doing out here?" she asked, holding Feral out at arm's length so she could get a good look at him.

He turned his head to one side.

_I'm tired of being left behind and forgotten._

Jaelyn brought him in to her, cradling him against her chest.

"I know." she said. "I've been neglecting you. A lot has been going on."

_Well, what could be more-_

Feral paused as he looked around her, his eyes growing big. Jaelyn followed his gaze to find the natives staring at them with interest and wonder.

It wasn't everyday you saw a drow having a conversation with a cat-bear.

"Uhh..." said Jaelyn and then she offered a sheepish grin.

_Why are they staring like that? I don't like how they're staring._

"Calm down." she said to him under her breath. "They aren't going to do anything. And hopefully, neither are you."

She sat Feral down on the ground, trusting that he wasn't going to maul anyone. The natives looked between her and the creature. Their faces were now showing a degree of shock. Of all of them, it was Akereth that boldly stepped toward Jaelyn and her animal companion.

"You know this animal?"

Feral bared his fangs and gave a small growl.

Jaelyn nudged him with her boot.

"Yes, I found him when we first came to the island. He was hiding in a shrub." she told him. "Why?"

Akereth knelt down on one knee, leaning against it on his elbow as he looked closely at Feral. The cat-bear glared back and his fur was beginning to bristle.

"Well, his kind was driven out of their territory by the drow. Eventually, they were all killed off by other predators. At least that's what we thought, but if this one is here, then perhaps there are others."

Jaelyn looked to Feral for more. The cat-bear lifted his furry head and she saw a lot of pain, sorrow and anger in his yellow eyes. They were things she'd never seen in him before, at least not all at once. And through their bond, she felt those emotions. She was not a stranger to them.

_I told you before, there's nothing left for me here._

She shook her head, grimly, sadly.

"You never said why."

_It's what this two-leg said. We were driven out of our home by the other two-legs that look like you. Drow. We tried to find a new place to call home, but in our travels, my kind was getting killed off, little by little, by other larger kinds. Sickness and old age even took a few. Soon, I was all that was left._

"Why didn't you tell me about this?"

_Because it doesn't matter. Nothing is going to bring them back._

Jaelyn sighed heavily and reached out, giving Feral a caress. "No wonder you hate them so much. When we first met, you knew I was one of them, so why didn't you attack me?"

Feral rubbed against her hand and purred.

_Because you wanted to help me. I saw it in your eyes. I felt it._

Jaelyn smiled.

"The creature is taken with you it would appear." said Akereth and then grinned. "So, what's its name?"

"His name is Feral."

"Ah, an ironic name."

Jaelyn smirked at the native man. "Not as ironic as you might think. He once tore a drow to pieces."

Akereth's face showed a great deal of shock and disbelief. "That little thing?"

"It's easy when no one suspects you're capable of it."

"Good point. Will he let me pet him?"

Jaelyn looked down at Feral with a meaningful expression.

Feral sighed.

_Oh, fine._

"Go ahead." the drow said to the native.

Akereth reached out and ran his tattooed hand through Feral's fur. For some moments, the cat-bear remained rigid under the foreign touch, but he soon could not fight off the pleasure that rippled through him and he responded by pressing deeply into Akereth's hand, demanding more.

_Oh, he's good at this._

The rubbing went on for ten minutes and then Feral flopped down and rolled over onto his back, giving the native an expectant look.

_The stomach now, please. A good tummy rub is what I require._

Akereth laughed. "It looks like trust is earned through petting for this one."

"It's weird, actually. Feral's never wanted me to rub his belly before."

_It didn't come to mind until now. He is really good at this. Why don't you get rid of the other two-leg and keep this one?_

In response, Jaelyn reached out and yanked on his tail, playfully. Feral squeaked.

_Hey, watch that._

After a moment, Akereth gave Jaelyn a long, curious, and thoughtful look as his hand moved gently along Feral's fur. The cat-bear was purring violently.

"You can understand him, like in that story you told me about the fawn?"

"Well, it's more than that." she said, joining in the pampering of her animal companion. "With the fawn, I could understand and feel her pain for a brief moment, but with Feral, it's almost constant. We share thoughts, and very recently I've begun to feel a degree of his emotions. Like now, he's almost in ecstasy."

"I...see." Akereth looked uncertain with the concept.

"I have a bond with him," she explained further. "It happens to a lot of rangers. It's a beautiful thing."

Akereth grinned, slyly. "He's not the jealous kind, is he? I mean, he's not going to rip my throat out if I kiss you, is he?

Jaelyn's eyes widened a bit in surprise and she felt her face growing hot.

"W-Were you planning on kissing me?"

The grin on his face softened into a seductive smile and it thoroughly surprised Jaelyn with its presence. Akereth had always seemed to be a timid man to her. Now, he was being very bold. She wondered where the change was coming from.

"Perhaps." he said, holding her gaze. "Would you reject me if I did?"

"...I don't know." she replied, honestly.

"Why not? It should be quite simple; either you like me or you don't."

"It's not that simple. I mean, I like you, you're nice, but..." she trailed off, confused.

Why was there a 'but'? There shouldn't be a 'but'. And what was she about to say after that 'but'? The thought had been severed mid-way by some inner force, but she had caught enough to understand.

She was confused by her sultry, passionate feelings for another and the open and friendly companionship she shared with Akereth. At one end, she had someone who challenged her, someone fierce and blatant, someone to keep her on her toes and keep her thinking. On the other end, she had stability and friendship, someone to talk to and share things with. To say she wasn't being pulled more toward the challenge would be a lie, but she also wanted the openness, to share thoughts and emotions with another.

Akereth watched her struggle and the smile that had been there was now no more. "You lied to me, didn't you?"

"Lied?"

"You do have feelings for him."

Jaelyn didn't need to be told of whom Akereth was referring to. Again, she struggled.

The native man looked away from her and sighted the ranger across the distance, who, as it happened, was staring directly at Akereth with a dark look on his face. He was standing with his back against a tree, arms crossed at his chest. Akereth couldn't help the sneer that settled on his own visage. If looks could kill, Bishop would be splattered across the island.

Akereth wished he spoke the man's language. There were so many things he wanted to say and threats he wanted to issue.

But no language was needed to pass on threats and it was Bishop who made the first. There was an expression of warning; a deep narrowing of his eyes, the ominous gleam in them, his thin scowl, and then his hand clenched around the hilt of his sword, one long finger tapping the leather grip in an obvious manner that reminded the native that he was well-armed and Akereth was not. Then the scowl was replaced by a nasty smirk.

Akereth didn't care how well-armed the bastard was and he didn't care how well he was at fighting, either. The native man wasn't familiar with this killing business, but he supposed one didn't have to have a good weapon or be good at fighting to kill a single man. All one had to be was sneaky and not above attacking a man when he least expects it. Wait for him to go to sleep and then brain him with the biggest rock one could get his hands on. But Akereth wouldn't go so far, yet. He wasn't a cold-blooded killer. He'd first try to draw Jaelyn away from him.

What the poor native man didn't know was that Bishop was a hundred times more sneakier than him, was always on alert, slept light with a weapon at hand, and most importantly, Bishop _was_ a cold-blooded killer when he wanted to be. Chances were, if he wanted you dead, you ended up dead with none of this 'waiting to do something else' to avoid the killing.

Akereth looked back at the drow, who had yet to respond to him. He repeated himself, but this time in the form of a firm question.

"Do you have feelings for him?"

Jaelyn had three answers.

"No...yes. I don't know."

Akereth sighed. "But you feel something?"

She could admit that much, she just didn't know what that something she felt was.

"Yes."

"Does he know?"

"I haven't outright admitted it, but...uh, I've done things that have hinted at it." she said. "So, yes, I think he knows."

Hinted? She'd once thrown herself at him. She'd been tricking him at the time, but still.

"And...has he admitted to feeling something for you?"

She scoffed. "Yeah, right. The sky would have to fall first. And that's only if he actually feels anything, anyway, which I highly doubt he does."

"Then why do you fight so hard?"

_Don't make me answer that._

"What?" she replied, feigning puzzlement.

"I've watched you with him." Akereth admitted. "I don't know what you say to each other, but he always pushes away and you always try to pull him back...in an emotional sense. If he does have feelings for you, Jaelyn, he will never admit them. You fight for nothing."

Jaelyn frowned and her brows creased. "How can you say that?"

"Because it's the truth. And you admitted yourself that such a thing would be unlikely to happen. You also admitted that he probably doesn't feel anything for you, anyway. So, why do you fight so hard for the impossible? Is it worth all the confusion and hurt? It shouldn't be this hard. And I know you know that."

She shook her head. "It will always be hard for someone like me, who's shunned where ever she goes."

"It doesn't have to be. " Akereth said and reached out to take her hand.

Feral blinked open his eyes, wondering why the rubbing had stopped and looked between the two two-legs.

"If you'd open your eyes to what's right in front of you, you'd see that it can be easy."

Their gazes met and held when Akereth lifted her hand to his lips. Jaelyn smiled slightly at the gesture. It reminded her of someone else and she tried desperately not to think of him or what had happened that night he'd made that same gesture. When Akereth pulled back, he returned the smile while his thumb caressed the back of her hand, unable to see that she had been considering someone else.

"Well, all I can hope for is that you'll consider my words."

Jaelyn closed her hand over his, awkwardly. "But would it really be worth it? You know this place isn't my home and that I'll eventually have to return to the mainland. It would only end in pain."

"It doesn't have to. You could always choose to stay here, or I could come with you. Just...consider it."

Jaelyn was a little perturbed. It was all of a sudden. They barely knew one another and he was insisting that one of them give up their home so they could be together. It was all romantic but at the same time incredibly forward.

_Is it any more forward than Bishop constantly trying to get you into bed?_ she reminded herself.

Actually, it was. If she chose to live there on the island, she'd be leaving behind her dragon family and though she would never find true acceptance where she came from, she still wasn't ready to leave the land she knew so well. It was still home.

She couldn't see herself living on the island with the natives, nor could she imagine Akereth living in Faerun. He wouldn't last a day. If the cutthroats didn't get to him first, the animals sure as the hells would.

She patted Akereth's hand.

"It's a nice thought, but-"

"No buts." he cut her off. "I'm not saying let's go now, I'm merely asking that you consider it."

What was there to consider? They didn't know each other well enough to make this kind of decision. She wondered why Akereth was even offering this.

"We barely know each other, Akereth."

Jaelyn saw a rare thing, then: Akereth's anger. It lit up his dark blue eyes and contorted his features.

"How long have you known him? A month? And you're willing to take risks for him!" he demanded loudly, pointing a finger at the ranger, who was still watching them.

Jaelyn noticed this and squirmed under his seething look. Others were watching now as well, thanks to Akereth's big mouth. They watched curiously. But it was the ranger her eyes kept going back to. He looked angry about something. Maybe they were making too much noise or maybe he was angry because he couldn't understand what was being said. Or perhaps it was the fact that Akereth was yelling and pointing at him.

Jaelyn finally returned her gaze to Akereth, who was also in an unpleasant mood now.

"Despite everything, he's my friend." she answered, trying to keep the coldness out of her voice. "And we've been through a lot. It doesn't matter how long I've known him. It's the things that've happened within that time that matter."

"Is it? Will any of it matter if he never admits the truth?" he asked. "How are you going to feel if one day you realize you're in love with him but he's never going to return those feelings? He is not worth the trouble, Jaelyn. You must see that. You waste yourself for nothing."

Now it was her turn to be angry. Where did this man get off telling her things like this? He didn't know her; he didn't know them.

"He's not nothing!" she shouted. "And I'm not just going to give up because that's what everyone else wants me to do."

"No one asks you to give up. I only ask that you open your eyes and realize what you waste on him that you could give to another."

"I don't want to talk about this anymore." she said, firmly.

Akereth sighed dismally. "Very well."

He stood up and went to join his fellow natives on the opposite side of the camp, while Jaelyn sat there, trying to think over her hammering heart and ultimately failing.

In his little corner of the camp, Bishop glanced between the two with a satisfied smile. He hadn't really been interested in what was going on between them because they'd been speaking in drow, but his interest perked when the native had taken hold of her hand and kissed it, a move Bishop had tried on her once. When he'd done it, however, it had worked. When the native did it, it only got him a smile and one that looked a little forced from the ranger's point of view. Still, despite that fact, when the native had kissed her hand, he felt a quick rush of jealousy. For one brief second, he felt like going over there and knifing the guy.

It wouldn't have been such an annoying sensation if it hadn't been caused by her.

What was he jealous about? It wasn't like the native had anything on him and it wasn't like the drow mattered enough for jealousy. But that still didn't make the fact go away.

He didn't want anyone else touching her.

Okay, fine. He could admit that, but only because he wanted to be the one to have what she had yet to give away. And now this native was getting in the way. He was going to have to do something about that.

That son of a bitch had the gall to give him that sneering look? Well, a little reminder of who held the weapons around here ought to put him in his place.

A moment later and Bishop was being roughly gestured at by the native.

Another moment and something the native had said to the drow had gotten her angry all of a sudden, so angry that she shouted at him.

Now she merely sat there with her animal companion, stroking his fur and looking a cross between angry and confused.

What had they been talking about? Obviously, some of it had to do with him since he had been pointed at by the native as if he were recognizing him in court as the guilty party.

Whatever it was, it had terrible emotions dribbling all over the place.

Bishop was just glad he was safe in his emotion-free corner.

**xxxxxxxxxx**

It wasn't a noise that had awoken Jaelyn. It was movement, close movement.

She cautiously cracked open one eye a mere slit and saw Bishop kneeling nearby, rummaging silently through her belongings. She immediately knew what he was looking for.

Jaelyn smiled and watched him for a moment, admiring the look of frustration on his face.

"You're not going to find it in there." she said at last.

She'd hoped to startle him. She should've known startling him wouldn't be so easy.

At the sound of her voice, he merely went still for a moment before he continued going through her things as if she wasn't even there.

Yawning, Jaelyn sat up on her hands.

"Do you really think I'd just leave it in my pack, within easy reach? Come on, I'm not stupid." she continued.

Again, he ignored her.

"I knew you were going to do this. You're not going to find it, Bishop."

Finally, he looked over at her, fury written firmly into his features.

"Where is it?" he growled.

Jaelyn shrugged, calmly. "Not here."

"I want it back. Now." It was the type of tone that dared you to defy it, the type that meant business, the type that warned 'Do what I say, or else' and you didn't want to know where 'else' led to.

"I don't have it."

"What do you mean, 'You don't have it'? You're the one that took it."

"Yes, but I don't have it with me."

"Where is it?" he demanded, slowly this time. "That's the last time I'm asking. The next time I'm going to stab the answer out of you."

"With what?" she dared, foolishly.

She was answered with a flash of steel that came to rest against her throat. Despite the obvious threat to her life, Jaelyn smiled again.

"Why is that knife so important?"

"It just is."

"I want to know why. It's not going to hurt you to tell me why."

"And you don't need to know."

"Yes, I do."

"Why?"

"Because it means something to you, and I want to know what's so important to a man who cares about nothing else."

He sighed. It was a long, drawn out sound of annoyance. He pulled his weapon away from her and she sat all the way up, watching him, curiously.

He knew she was never going to shut her trap about it unless he spilled his guts. He supposed it wouldn't hurt to tell her something, but it was all she was ever going to get out of him.

"I got it from my home village, from the hunter there that tried to mentor me...if you want to call it that. It helped me survive."

Jaelyn was surprised by him, that he actually gave in and told her something about himself. She had half the mind to ask if he was feeling okay, but she held back. This was an exceptional moment she didn't want to ruin, a moment she was probably never going to get again.

_Savor it. Cherish it._

She was also wise enough to refrain from asking more questions, even though his response had definitely called up more curiosity. She hadn't imagined him coming from a village. She had assumed he came out of a hole in the ground, or was spawned by devils, or something to that effect. Now she really wanted to know where he was from.

The question was on the tip of her tongue and her mouth opened to issue it forth. She fought frantically against the temptation, sucked in a gasp of air and snapped her mouth shut.

Bishop gave her a strange look.

She grinned.

"Was it really painful having to tell me that?" she finally said.

"Yes." he lied.

Now that all the surprise had passed, the guilt was creeping up on her.

She could understand now why the knife was important to him. It was for the same reason her longbow was important to her. It kept you alive. And she had taken that thing from him and used it against him as leverage. She couldn't continue doing it, no matter how much of an ass he was being. It was wrong.

The grin fell away as if slapped off.

"Your knife is in a safe place. Akereth is keeping it for me at his home." she said, her voice soft and regretful. "I'm really sorry, Bishop. I shouldn't have taken it. I just...wanted you to help me help them, because I can't do it alone. "

"Did it ever cross your mind to ask me?"

She frowned. "I did."

"No, you merely assumed that I'd help. You never once asked." he replied. "Let's get something straight between you and me, drow. No one tells me what to do, and don't assume I'll do something just 'cause you and the half-man are doing it. Ask me and maybe I'll consider it."

"For a price." she retorted.

He shrugged. "So? Nothing in this world comes for free."

"Fine." she conceded. "But you could be a little more reasonable with your price. I'm not going to sleep with you."

He grinned. "Why not? You'll like it, I guarantee it. You won't walk straight for a tenday."

Jaelyn gave him an appalled look, a look that caught the ranger's funny bone.

Bishop laughed.

His remark got him a playful punch in the arm and a half-hearted insult.

"You swine!"

Her laughter joined his.


	22. Chapter 22: Expecting

**xxxxxx**

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-Two:**

**Expecting**

**xxxxxx**

**They** arrived at the place Quin had been held prisoner at around mid-day.

It was a squat stone structure, much like the Lolth chapel they'd come across a while back near the shoreline. Ivy vigorously tried to encompass the stone walls, but was only capable of reaching halfway up. Moss grew in delicate patches along the base of the structure. The stone was cracking in places and there had once been something engraved into the stone above the wooden door, but it was so cracked and worn away with time that it could no longer be read. The building had to be centuries old; it was a wonder it still stood.

Quin peered at it and tried to push away the terrible memories of the place.

He had been in his normal quirky mood up until they were on the approach of that horrible place, then he turned uncharacteristically grim. His perpetual smile had turned into a frown, his blue eyes glistened, and his brows were dipped into a deep furrow.

"This is it." he spoke, gravely. "This is where they kept me."

When the group paused a few yards from the stone structure, Jaelyn reached over and put an arm around her friend.

"All right?"

The halfling nodded, but Jaelyn wasn't convinced. When someone like Quin didn't smile, there was definitely something wrong.

"Are you sure?" she asked.

"I said I'm fine." he snapped.

He winced at the sound of his own voice and then shook his head.

"Sorry."

"There's no need to be."

"It's just...I didn't think I'd be coming back here, to be honest."

"You don't have to come with us if you don't want to."

"No, I want to. We need the weapons in there and I know where they are."

Bishop turned toward them with a sly look. "Good, then since you're so familiar with this place, _you_ can go in first."

The halfling frowned at him. "Why, so I can be the first to get attacked if drow should be inside?"

"That had never crossed my mind." the ranger lied. "But since you mentioned it..."

"There's no time to argue about it." Jaelyn spoke up. "So, I'll go in first."

"Fine by me." said Bishop with a shrug. "Let's get moving, then. I don't like this standing around. If there are any drow nearby, we'll be an easy target for them with this rabble."

Jaelyn nodded and stepped past him toward the stone building, Feral at her heels and Quin at her side.

To Quin, nothing seemed to have changed about the place, other than the fact that the bodies the halfling had left behind had been removed. That meant drow had been back here and knowing their luck, were probably still there.

They stood at the open door and Quin poked his head through, listening for movement. Jaelyn was also listening and she was the first to assure them that no one was there, or at least no one was in this section of the building.

"I don't hear anything." she said, keeping her voice low and aimed away from the threshold, where it would've no doubt echoed down the long corridor.

Quin nodded. "I'll go first. I know where the armory is. It's nearby."

Jaelyn turned around to face the ranger, who stood a few paces behind her.

"Will you go with him, please? I want to make sure the natives are all inside."

He blinked in surprise. She was _asking_ him to do something? Hells, she even said 'please'. Apparently, his message had gotten through. That was a first. Usually people chose to ignore his rule about bossing him around; that was usually how they all ended up dead. But she surprisingly obeyed it.

He could've been cruel and said no, but instead, he found himself moving down the corridor after the halfling, as if his legs had taken on a life of their own. What had possessed him to take the civil road for once? Well, it wasn't as if she was asking him to saw off his own arm.

Bishop didn't like this place. His dislike of it had nothing to do with what had happened to the half-man here. This place reeked of blood and death, literally, and though he usually wasn't bothered by places like that, this one seemed to be working hard on dredging up unwanted memories, memories of a dying village. All that was missing was the thick smell of smoke and burning flesh and the cries of the dying.

He forced the mental images away. Those things didn't matter and he wasn't going to think about them.

The sooner they got out of that place, the better.

Meanwhile, Jaelyn counted native heads as they filed into the building.

Once they were all inside, she turned to Akererth, who stood at the back of the group.

"Stay here and watch the door. If you see any drow, but they haven't seen you, come warn us. If they have seen you, scream. Okay?"

He nodded and when she turned away, he grabbed her arm in an instant.

Jaelyn looked at him in surprise, noted the worried expression on his face, and was touched by the sight of it.

"Be careful."

She smiled and patted his hand. "You too."

Jaelyn hurried down the corridor and found the armory where her two male companions were looking around.

There were numerous weapons in racks sitting against almost every wall. Jaelyn counted at least four different types of melee weapons and about twenty or so weapons in all, but there were chests sitting around that they hadn't looked in yet.

Frowning, she gave a heavy sigh and her arms flopped down to her sides.

"This isn't nearly enough."

"No," Quin agreed, while looking through a chest full of assorted daggers. "But it's a start."

Bishop lifted a sword from a nearby rack and studied it. He ran a thumb along the dulled edge of the blade and then gave the weapon an experimental whirl.

"This is a surprisingly decent weapon." he said. "Good balance. It may even do some damage once its been sharpened and if they can be taught to use it right."

"I'm glad to hear that." said Jaelyn, who looked over a halberd, while Feral pressed against her leg. "It's about time our luck turned around."

The cat-bear gave the air a sniff and then whimpered.

_This place smells bad._

Jaelyn looked down at him. "I know, Feral. We'll be leaving soon. Just relax."

Quin lifted a dagger to eye level with an uninterested expression. The daggers were pretty dull and some were even rusted.

He tossed the dagger back into the chest with a disgusted look.

"Useless."

"Not so." Jaelyn said. "Even if they aren't useful in a real fight, they can be made useful in practice."

"They don't have time to fool around with 'practice' weapons." Bishop argued. "They need to be cut and stabbed; blood needs to be drawn. That's the only way they're going to learn."

Jaelyn looked at him. "What's the point of teaching them to fight the drow if they're just going to die in practice?"

He shrugged. "If they die in practice, then they wouldn't have survived the drow, anyway. At least we'll weed out the weak."

Quin glowered over at him. "What a nice thing to say."

Bishop ignored him.

"It's probably not going to matter, anyway. They don't stand a chance, trained or not."

"Don't say that!" Jaelyn exclaimed with a frown.

"Why? It's the truth. They're all going to die with or without our help. I say we just leave, let them fend for themselves."

Jaelyn's hands found her hips. "And how would we do that? Our only way off this chunk of rock is on that boat and if you haven't forgotten, it's damaged. And the natives may know how to fix it."

"I'm not dying for these fools." he said, firmly.

Jaelyn opened her mouth, but Quin beat her to it.

"No one's asking you to. All anyone wants is for you to help train them."

Bishop gave an indignant sniff. "You say that, but I'll wager all my gold that we're going to get dragged into their fight."

"I _intend_ to fight along side them." Jaelyn said.

"As do I." Quin seconded.

Bishop shook his head. "You're both idiots, soon to be dead ones."

The drow smirked. "You never know, we might win. Have a little faith."

"Faith?" he laughed. "It's going to take more than that. Are they really worth dying for?"

She shrugged. "I'm not doing it just for them."

He stared at her long and hard, knowing exactly what is was she spoke of. It was the halfling that looked confused.

"You fight for nothing." said the ranger.

Jaelyn wasn't surprised to hear that statement again.

She shook her head. "I fight for what I believe in, but that concept is probably beyond you."

He understood the concept as much as she did, if not better. What went beyond his understanding was her desire to save her people, who, in his opinion, were beyond saving. They acted the way they did because it was in their nature to do so; it was all they knew. If there was a chance at all of saving them, it was insignificant. Besides, they had to want to be saved and as much as he knew about the drow from the Underdark, they had a fondness for being brutal and evil.

"I wish you had something to believe in." she went on.

"I do."

"...What?" She was genuinely surprised.

"I believe in keeping myself alive at all costs."

Jaelyn rolled her eyes. "Why doesn't that surprise me?"

"I'm only doing what comes natural to us humans. You wouldn't understand."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Urgh!..." said Quin out of frustration. "Would you two just shut up! You're always arguing and I'm getting sick of it. There wouldn't be any of this tension if the both of you weren't such cowards."

"_Cowards_?" both rangers replied in unison and with the same amount of outrage at the accusation. They even sent the same offended expression to the halfling.

Quin crossed his arms over his chest and sent glares to both of them. "Yes, cowards. You both hide behind denial and try to make up excuses for how you feel instead of just admitting it. Seriously, what's there to be afraid of?"

"You're out of your godsdamned mind, half-man. I don't feel anything for anyone and I'm not afraid of anything."

"Except heights." muttered Jaelyn.

Bishop shot her a murderous glare. "You shut up."

Quin kept his gaze on him, calmly. "Thank you for proving my point."

"There is no point!"

"You just proved it again."

Bishop growled at him. "Keep it up. I'm this close to-"

"And now you're going to hide behind threats." Quin interrupted. "That's pretty typical of you."

At the look of total fury on Bishop's face and the way his hand quickly slid down to grasp the hilt of his sword, Jaelyn tugged on Quin's arm in warning.

"You're asking for it, Quince Bramblebrow." she said. "That look means business."

Feral, at Jaelyn's side, lowered his head and growled at the ranger, not that anyone was paying any heed to the cat-bear. Any other time, that would've been a fatal mistake, but Feral's reaction was a warning. He didn't intend on attacking the two-leg, unless he found the balls to draw his weapon. The cat-bear knew that hurting him would upset his mistress.

"I don't care." the halfling replied, boldly. "Everything I said was the truth and he damn well knows it. Otherwise, he wouldn't be getting this angry about it."

"Quin!"

Jaelyn half expected the halfling to get impaled by the ranger's sword at that moment, but nothing happened. Further surprising was when Bishop lowered his hand from his weapon and found an odd look of calmness. The anger was gone from his expression, but Jaelyn had a feeling it wasn't gone from inside. There was still a fiery glint in his eyes and his jaw was clenched tight. He smiled pleasantly, or what he thought was pleasant. To the onlookers, it was quite unsettling, and the blustering look in his eyes only heightened the effect.

Jaelyn took a few steps back, taking Quin with her, thinking that this was it; the ranger had finally snapped.

"Think what you want. Doesn't matter to me." said Bishop. "Now, are we going to just stand here or are we going to start moving these weapons?"

"What a grand idea!" Jaelyn said, quickly and then shuffled Quin toward the threshold. "Go bring the others."

When Quin was gone, they were left with nothing but an awkward silence, a normal occurrence after just about any emotional outburst and when secrets were suddenly thrust into the limelight.

Jaelyn almost welcomed the awkward silence. She was just happy they had gotten past this without any casualties. Things definitely could've gone worse.

She was surprised by Quin's behavior. He wasn't normally so challenging and unrelenting. Maybe he was just uneasy about having to come back to this awful place and he was taking it out on them. She couldn't really blame him.

"Are you going to help or not?"

Jaelyn turned, sharply. "Huh?"

Bishop gave her an impatient look. He was taking down the weapons from their racks and laying them on the table in the midst of the room.

"Make yourself useful." he said in frosty tones.

She frowned. "Don't take your anger out on me. I'm not the one that said it."

He didn't reply, but he did drop a sword noisily onto the table with an angry expression, which almost had the same effect as a snippy retort.

It made Jaelyn flinch internally. Her stomach and heart clenched up.

She turned away and began taking the weapons down.

After laying a spear on the table, she looked over what had been taken down already and noted that it would probably be wise if they categorized the weapons.

"Wait," she said just before Bishop laid down a scimitar. "We should be grouping these out, don't you think? You know, putting them in their proper categories; all the swords in one group, polearms in the other, and so on."

"Does it matter?"

"Well, bundling them would make it easier for the natives to carry them and easier for us later on; if we're looking for a particular weapon, we won't have to sort through all of them."

He shrugged. "Fine."

Jaelyn nodded. "Right. I'll go look for something to bind the weapons together with."

She moved toward the dark, adjacent room where the stench of death was the strongest. When she stepped through the threshold, she found out why.

Jaelyn let out a startled cry and then whirled away from the horror she'd just looked upon a few feet away from the door, only to come face to face(or really, face to chest) with the ranger, who had his sword drawn, expecting her cry to have been caused by some kind of threat. Even Feral had bounded over to her, but the moment he reached the threshold, he backed away with a whine. The scent of death was overpowering.

When he peered over the top of her head into the room, Bishop saw nothing threatening, only a decapitated and rotting corpse laying on a table, which was nothing to be screaming about.

She found herself oddly calmed by him. Perhaps it was his reaction, even though it was likely that it wasn't for her, that had calmed her; the fact that he'd arrived after her scream in record time. Or perhaps it was just having him near. Or maybe it was something else altogether. Whatever the reason, she put a hand over her chest where her racing heart was beginning to slow to its normal rhythm and made a good effort at avoiding his scolding look.

She nervously cleared her throat after a moment. "Sorry. I...uh, wasn't expecting that."

He sheathed his sword roughly. "If you can't handle being around stuff like that, then you don't have any place in battle."

Jaelyn shook her head and then tilted it back to look up at him with a frown.

"It just took me by surprise, all right?" she said, defensively.

"No, the little coward got scared again."

Jaelyn shoved him away, angrily. "I'm not scared! And I'm not a coward!"

Feral, standing loyally beside his mistress, directed a menacing growl at Bishop.

Just to prove the ranger wrong, Jaelyn turned away and stomped back into that darkened room and forced herself to ignore the dead body as she looked around for something she could use to bundle the weapons with, and she even came within a foot of the body without even realizing it.

Bishop stood in the threshold, leaning his shoulder against the frame as he watched her with a faint smirk. The cat-bear sat near his feet watching as well with his head slightly cocked to one side.

Jaelyn located an old, dirty and blood-stained blanket in the far right corner of the room, lifted it, and then proceeded back to the armory, giving the ranger a simmering but also a meaningful look.

"Well, you sure showed me." he said, mockingly.

"Oh...shut up."

She removed her dagger from its sheath on her belt and was just beginning to cut the old blanket into strips of cloth when Quin finally returned with the natives behind him.

"What took so long?"

"Well, it's not easy to tell people what you want if you don't speak their language and they can't understand yours. It's like talking to the deaf or mute; you have to sign everything you say." Quin replied. "But...I've had practice. I actually think I'm getting better at it."

Jaelyn would've gone to get them herself, but she hadn't trusted leaving her two companions alone together after what had happened moments ago. She likely would've found one of them lying in a pool of his own blood when she returned.

"Keep them at the door." she warned. "I don't want them to go anywhere near this other room."

Quin nodded, grimly, already knowing from experience what was in there.

Bishop made a derisive sound. "Why? Let them see it. Let them see what's going to happen to them if they don't learn how to fight."

"Bishop!" Jaelyn rebuked in the hissing tone one might use against a child who has found the temerity to utter a swear word in the presence of his elders.

"What?" he replied, curtly. "Like I said, they need to be pushed."

"Maybe they do," Jaelyn admitted. "But not like this. It'll do more damage than good. We're not trying to build hatred in them, we're trying to help them protect themselves."

He scoffed. "You've got a lot to learn about battle, drow. There's strength in hatred. Just look at the drow here, how they fight. Brutal, cold and without mercy. You teach these people to spare lives and the drow's going to take theirs. It's all they know. They need to learn to fight like the drow."

"What would you know about it?"

"I was a soldier once upon a time, so more than you think."

Jaelyn looked on him in surprise, more for the fact that he had just freely told her something about himself than the actual fact that he had once fought for something. But then she had to ask the inevitable question.

"A soldier? You? Who'd be crazy enough to let you in their army?"

"Yeah, I would kind of like to know that myself." Quin added, curiously and with a little smile.

"It wasn't a matter of letting me in. I didn't have a choice." It was a grim reply that bordered on anger.

Jaelyn frowned in confusion. "What do you mean, 'you didn't have a choice'? Were you drafted or something?"

"In a manner of speaking." Bishop replied enigmatically.

"What do you mean by that?"

"I'm done talking about this."

He used that I-dare-you-to-defy-me tone that she'd heard many times before, but this time he put much more feeling into it.

Jaelyn backed off.

He'd told her two things about himself in two days. He had to be exhausted.

She went back to cutting strips from the old blanket, while the ranger stared at her in surprise.

Again she hadn't pressed him for more as he had expected she would. She was actually heeding him instead of pushing him and it was getting just a bit unsettling. What was she up to?

"What, you're not going to try to worm more out of me?" he heard himself say and wondered what had just taken control of his mouth.

That wasn't supposed to come out.

While bundling the swords together, minding the edges, she glanced up at him with a faint smirk and shrugged her shoulders.

"No." was all she said, increasing his surprise and rendering him confused.

If she was up to something, he had no clue what it was. She was always trying to drag more out of him, and now all of a sudden she wasn't? He didn't get it. Maybe she just wasn't interested anymore. She was spending a lot of time with that native guy, not to mention she talked about him enough.

His gaze darted over to Akereth, who stood with his fellow natives, speaking in low tones to one of them in that drivel language of theirs.

What did she see in him, anyway?

Bishop was unsettled further by the sudden acidic bite of jealousy. It was a highly irritating sensation. It shouldn't have even been present. This guy was nothing. And she was nothing. And yet that damn feeling persisted.

While he fought the green-eyed monster, Jaelyn knew exactly what she was doing.

Her pressing him about the knife had opened him up a little, but even though she'd been curious for more, she didn't push for it. Now he was telling her things without her even having to wrench it out of him. And again she decided to play it slow and not push him for more. He was genuinely surprised by that, she'd noticed. The way she was figuring it, not pushing him for information was the only way to get anything from him. It was going to be a gradual, grueling process, but she had a feeling it would be worth it in the end.

Quin noticed the ranger's fuming look and followed it to the native Jaelyn had been hanging around a lot lately. The halfling grinned and shook his head. The green-eyed monster had apparently swallowed Bishop. He was almost livid. Quin found it amusing that the arrogant, self-centered ranger was actually jealous of a man half his size and who had probably never even kissed a woman before.

He had to stifle his laugh by squeezing his lips together with his hand.

The laugh bubbled up in his throat and he tried to cover it with a cough, but he failed miserably. He made a choking, snorting sound that drew the attention of everyone in the vicinity. Even Feral gave him a weird look.

The halfling was wheezing laughter into his hand, his face reddening and his eyes squeezed shut as if it could help control the laugh.

"Quin..." Jaelyn said slowly, staring at him with her eyes widened a bit. "Are you all right?"

"He's mad." Bishop remarked, quirking a brow. "I thought you already knew that?"

Quin leaned his forehead against the edge of the table and banged a fist on top of it while the laughs turned hysterical.

"Whatever it is," Jaelyn went on, confused. "It can't be that funny. I mean...nothing happened."

After a moment, Quin lifted his head up and wiped tears of mirth from his cheeks as his laughter died down.

He cleared his throat, smiling. "Sorry about that. I was just, er...thinking about a joke someone told me a long time ago."

"Really? If it was that funny, then why don't you share it? I could sure use a laugh." Jaelyn replied.

"Uh, no, it's a halfling joke. You wouldn't get it. Besides, we should focus on getting these weapons out."

Jaelyn made a face. "Are you sure everything's all right?"

Quin nodded with a grin.

The drow put a questioning look on the ranger, as if he had an answer for this, but he merely rolled his eyes on the matter.

Jaelyn shrugged and went back to work. She supposed it didn't matter. Quin had a strange sense of humor in any case.

They ended up with only four bundles of weapons, three bundles of swords and a single bundle of polearms, but as luck would have it, they found a light bit of armor in another chest.

Jaelyn handed the three bundles of swords off to three of the natives, then handed off the polearms to the strongest of the natives. Finally, she put the armor together in a satchel one of the natives had brought. She was surprised it held the weight of the armor. The satchel was made of thin leather, held together by crude stitching, but it held nevertheless. She handed it off.

She then turned to Quin. "Is that all the weapons that are in this building?"

The halfling inclined his head. "It's all I came across."

"All right, let's get going, then."

Jaelyn addressed the natives in drow and then had them moving back down the corridor to the entrance, but she paused just as she left the armory, staring down the opposite end of the hall where a set of stairs descended into the ground.

"Where does that go?" Her question was directed at Quin.

"I don't know. I wasn't in any shape to go exploring."

"We should probably go see what's down there." Jaelyn insisted. "There might be survivors."

"Or more importantly, weapons." Bishop added.

"Well, you two go ahead, then." Quin said. "I've had enough of this place. I'll stay up here with the natives."

Jaelyn nodded and looked down at Feral. "Stay with Quin. We won't be long."

The cat-bear remained at her side, uncertain.

She nudged him toward the halfling with her boot and Quin leaned over slightly to give Feral a pat.

"Be careful." Quin urged. "The drow have been back here since I escaped. I left a lot of drow bodies lying around, but now they're gone. If they're still here, they could be down there."

"Now he tells us." groused the ranger.

Jaelyn gave him a smirk. "Oh, come on, a big, tough guy like you can't be afraid of a few drow."

He looked down at her through narrowed eyes. "Who said anything about being afraid? It just would've been nice to know what to expect before we stepped foot in this place."

"Well, you know now. So, stop your complaining and let's go." she replied, tugging on his arm as she began to descend the steps.

With an irritated sigh, Bishop followed, drawing his sword.

The steps were long and led deep underground, so deep that the steps were engulfed in pitch black darkness halfway down. Jaelyn had no trouble seeing, thanks to her inherent dark vision, but the ranger wasn't so lucky.

"I can't see a fucking thing."

"We're almost there."

"That doesn't help now."

He felt around for something tangible to grab on to, found the wall at his left and stepped down wrong on the next tread. He stumbled a bit and effectively ran into the drow, who then proceeded to trip and slide down the steps with a squeaky gasping noise which was accompanied by the rustling sound of someone desperately trying (and failing) to keep their balance while rushing down a flight of stairs. Then there was a small thud and a painful moan.

"Ouch..."

Jaelyn's trip had come to a stop about thirty or so steps from where she had been rudely rushed. She sat up on the step, rubbing pain from several places on her person. She was positive her sides and knees were going to be bruised. Some ways behind her, she could hear snickering.

"Stupid jerk." she muttered, bitterly.

Her insult easily traveled to the ranger's ears and she knew he'd heard her and didn't care, either.

Bishop slowly made his way down the stairs toward her, using her voice to direct himself while he grinned from ear to ear.

"I'm so glad my pain amuses you." she went on with an acidic tone to her voice.

Jaelyn got to her feet, wincing as her knees bent and protested about it.

"You want me to kiss it and make it better?" he retorted mockingly.

"I'd watch that if I were you." she warned. "I've got an advantage over you here. I can see perfectly to smack you. And I'm this close to doing it."

"Try it."

She did.

Jaelyn swung sharply to face him, bringing her hand around, meaning to backhand him right across the face, but instead, he caught her offending hand by the wrist. The contact made a smacking noise in the quiet of the stairwell and Jaelyn wished it was because her hand had found his face and not because he'd swiftly hindered the attack.

She was a bit startled by the move, she had to admit. She knew for a fact that he couldn't see in the dark, so how in the hells was this possible?

As if reading her mind, he said "I may not be able to see, drow, but I sure as the hells can hear. You want to try that again?"

"All right, fine." she resigned. "You've made your point, but you still don't have to laugh at me. You didn't hear me laughing at you when you were rolling around on the forest floor in agony."

"There's a big difference there, drow. I was poisoned and could've died. You fell down a flight of stairs."

"It still hurts!"

"I said I'd kiss it and make it better, didn't I?"

Jaelyn frowned at the teasing tone in his voice, but irritation quickly turned into shocked consternation when his grip on her wrist softened and he gently pulled her toward him.

She jerked away, twisted her wrist from his grasp.

Who did he think he was? Where did he get off thinking he could mock her and laugh at her getting hurt and then try to make a move on her?

"I don't think so, pal." she said, haughtily and then turned away from him to descend the remainder of the stairs.

Grinning in the dark, Bishop followed close behind.

They were greeted by warm glowing torch light, the stench of death, and a long corridor when they reached the bottom of the stairs.

Bishop approached the right wall and took down the torch sitting in its iron wall bracket.

The corridor seemed to stretch on forever and there was an occasional wooden door with a small barred window along both walls. It was eerily silent down there. Jaelyn could hear no sounds from above, and she didn't care for that. If they ran into too many drow, any call for help would be useless; no one would hear them. The same went for Quin and the others. If they needed help, she and the ranger wouldn't be able to hear their cries.

The two rangers traveled down the long hallway, checking each door they came to and looking in the rooms they opened in to. There was nothing helpful in any of them. The rooms had been converted into cells and places of torture. Most were barren, save for cobwebs and dust but others had old bones lying on the floor or whole skeletons chained to a wall. It was your typical dungeon.

As they progressed further down the hall, the smell of death grew stronger and Jaelyn had trouble ignoring it. If it bothered Bishop at all, it was impossible to tell. To Jaelyn, he seemed completely unfazed.

The fact of the matter was, it _didn't_ bother him. He'd smelt worse. The smell of a rotting corpse was perfume compared to the smell of burning flesh, in his opinion. He would prefer the former over the latter any day. Besides, he'd been around enough corpses in his life to have gotten used to the stench.

Jaelyn, on the other hand, could hardly stand it. The smell was making her eyes water. She had to put a hand over her nose and mouth in an attempt to block the odor. It only barely helped.

It was while Jaelyn was searching another room that Bishop found the source of the offending odor. He'd seen some horrible things in his life, but when he opened that door and looked inside that room, he saw what would top them all. It made an already cold heart grow colder.

It was a room littered with corpses. It wouldn't have been so bad if they hadn't been all children, and young ones, too. Some of them were barely out of infancy, but the majority looked around five or six years of age. They'd been tortured to death. The evidence of it marred their bodies. Then they had been stacked together here like garbage.

There was no reason for this.

He wasn't exactly a moralistic person and he'd done his fair share of evil deeds, but this...he couldn't even find the words to describe it. This was evil on a whole different scale. This was like something you'd find in the Abyss, something only demons would do. But there were no demons here, unless they were disguised as drow.

Bishop breathed an uncontrollable, angry oath, which, unfortunately, drew Jaelyn's attention away from the other room.

She looked over at him, caught the mixed expression of revulsion and indignation on his face just before he sent it away, and knew that something was wrong. She'd never seen him look like that before.

"What? What is it?"

He closed the door and lied to her.

"Nothing. There's nothing there. Let's go."

"Bullshit." she said, aware that her heart was climbing into her throat. It was something terrible, she knew. If it was enough to make him look like that, then it was probably horrendous. "What is it?"

He shook his head. "It isn't important."

_Don't look in there, you stupid girl_, was his thought and this was probably the only time he wished she could read his mind.

She stepped over to him and gave him an expectant look.

_Maybe she needs that push as well_, he mused. _Maybe it'll make her realize that some people are beyond saving._"

"Fine." he said. "But you're going to regret looking in there."

Bishop pushed the door open and then stepped off to the side, standing with his back to the wall. He'd had enough of what was in there; he didn't need to see it again, but he watched her. He watched her step into the threshold, watched the horror crease her features, the tears fill her eyes; he saw her tremble, and then the horror on her pretty face faded into anger, into red rage.

He was surprised at her reaction, surprised by her will to keep herself in check. The tears he'd seen building in her eyes never fell. Most women would break down at such a grisly sight, even some men might, but she stood solid, and then when she looked at him, he understood what had strengthened her.

He'd seen that frigid, hostile look plenty of times; he'd sent it back at people and he'd received it. There in those pale green eyes that he'd grown accustomed to seeing challenges in and even a degree of humor, was nothing but hatred. And he had a feeling it was going to be a permanent resident. He was almost disappointed. He'd grown to like the humor that he had once seen there, but it was probably for the best, anyway; the best for both of them. The less he liked about her, the better.

Jaelyn reached out for the door handle, her hand as still as rock, but her mind was a tempestuous mess of emotion and she was only barely capable of restraining herself. She wanted nothing more than to explode. She wanted nothing more than to kill the ones responsible and found herself disturbed by the thought.

_Is that any better than them, than what they have done here?_ reasoned Reason.

_They deserve it!_ cried her Anger, passionately. _They deserve to have done to them what they did to those innocent children! Children, by the gods!_

Anger's cry filled her and drowned out the voice of Reason, drowned out everything.

Jaelyn closed the door, softly.

"They aren't worth it." she spoke in a dreadfully hollow voice. "These monsters are not worth saving."

The ranger said nothing on the matter. It was a statement he already knew to be true.

"Come on." he said to her, his voice strangely gentle. "There's no point standing around here."

He pushed himself away from the wall and moved down the corridor, but Jaelyn stayed back a moment longer.

She leaned against the door, closed her eyes, and murmured a soft prayer to Silvanus. She opened her burning eyes and stared at the wooden door.

"Someone should bury them."

A pained cry tore through the chamber.

Jaelyn's head jerked around in alarm.

A ways down the corridor, Bishop had paused in his stride and was peering around for the source of the sound.

It had been a cry for help in drow, a woman's cry.

Though Jaelyn had just sworn she'd never bother with trying to save the drow, she couldn't help but be curious about a female drow. Gulaonar had never mentioned females and she had yet to come across one on the island or...ever.

She hurried down the corridor toward her companion and the cry for help rang out again. It was in agony.

"We should check that out. They're speaking drow and speaking it like a native of the language."

"Why? I thought after seeing that back there, you'd be through with helping them."

"That's a female." she replied, as if that explained everything.

"So? What difference does it make? Male, female; they're all the same."

Jaelyn gave him a meaningful expression. "Are they?"

"All right," he resigned. "The ones from the Underdark are all the same."

She smiled faintly and repeated herself. "Are they? There's a big difference between males and females in the Underdark. In drow society, females are powerful and males are, well, peons. But they aren't in the Underdark anymore, are they? She has no power and she now has to answer to a male. How do you think that makes her feel? She might even be willing to side with us just to get at Dresmor."

"That's a slim chance, at best." he replied. "Think about it. Female drow are powerful in the Underdark, as you say, but if she truly had any power there at all, why would she have left it for the surface? She's probably an outcast or something."

Jaelyn shrugged. "Even still, we might be able to extract information out of her."

Bishop gave her a curious look. "Extract?"

She held his gaze, grimly. "By any means necessary."

He grinned. "Oh, you shouldn't say things like that."

"Why not?"

He gave a small, gravelly chuckle and then looked her over carefully, lasciviously. He backed her into a wall and trapped her there. This was familiar to her, and unwanted.

"'Cause it gets me hot, that's why."

Jaelyn sniffed, derisively and then ducked under one of his arms.

"We don't have time for this." she said, coldly.

He stood there for a moment and frowned deeply at her back as she walked away from him.

Jaelyn followed the sounds of pain and finally reached the cause. The sounds were coming from behind one of the doors at the end of the corridor.

When Jaelyn tried the handle, it was locked.

"Get away from the door." she said in drow, hoping the person on the other side could hear her.

She stepped back and then kicked the door handle several times until it finally gave way. The wood around the door handle cracked and split and then the handle itself fell off. Jaelyn pushed the door open.

For a moment, she could only stand in the threshold and stare in.

There on the stone floor of the cell was the female drow, leaning back against a wall with her face contorted in agony. She was garbed in a dirty gray dress that was tattered and torn. Sweat ran down her temples and created a wet sheen on her face and along her taut, arched neck and the neckline of her dress. Her hand clutched her belly, which was full and swollen, a great indicator that she was in the family way.

"Oh, no..." Jaelyn murmured, anxiously. This was the last thing they needed.

Bishop reached her finally and peered into the room. His mouth wanted to drop open. He forced it not to and began quickly backing away.

"Ah, you know what? I just remembered, I left something very important in the village..."

He turned to flee but Jaelyn caught him up, her hand like a vise around his wrist.

"Nuh uh." she said, shaking her head. "You're not leaving me to deal with this alone, damn it."

He tried to jerk back but she held on. She was pretty strong for an elf, he had to admit. He could feel her fingers sinking into his skin and her nails were close to drawing blood.

The female drow in the room cried out. It was the type of cry you might hear in the deepest pits of the Abyss, where demons gave torture a new definition to fear.

"Shit." the ranger swore. "She's going to explode any minute. I hope you've got experience in this type of thing, 'cause I sure as the hells don't."

Jaelyn looked at him. "Well, I aided a horse in giving birth once, but it's really not the same thing, is it?"

"Shit."

The pregnant drow finally looked up at them. There was a pleading expression on her face and confusion in her eyes as she panted through her labor pains.

"Something...is wrong." she spoke in drow. "Help me."

Jaelyn hurried over, dragging Bishop with her.

"You're just in labor." she replied.

The drow shook her head. "Too...early..."

She moaned and grit her teeth.

"I think your baby would disagree."

The drow shot her a heated look that told Jaelyn she didn't appreciate the joke.

Jaelyn let Bishop go and knelt next to the pregnant drow. "Even if it is early, you can't fight it. The decision has been made. It's time to bring your child into the world."

Bishop eyed the exit with longing and then looked between the two drow females. Jaelyn was too engaged in helping this other to notice him.

He made a stealthy, sidling move toward escape, but a hand struck out like a cobra and grabbed his leg. Nails bit into him in warning.

She didn't even look at him, nor did she pause in her conversation with the other drow. It was like she had eyes in the back of her head.

"What's your name?" Jaelyn asked the expectant mother.

"Ethedriira."

"My name is Jaelyn. I'll do what I can to help you, but I warn you now that I have no experience at this."

Ethedriira only nodded. "Normally, I would not trust another drow. But they speak of you, the others here. They say you were born above ground, that you are not truly one of us."

Jaelyn frowned and that look of hatred filled her features. "I'm not and I take pride in it. I would never want to be one of you."

"You misunderstand me." Ethedriira said and her face creased as another wave of pain hit. She had to take a breath to continue. "Not all of us are like Dresmor. I left the Underdark with Gulaonar to escape drow like him, but..."

She shook her head. Her pale yellow eyes glimmered with tears. "He is evil...and I...I bear his child."

"Why" Jaelyn demanded. "If you know he's evil, then why?"

Ethedriira shook her head and another kind of agony contorted her features, an agony of the heart.

"It was not a choice." she said. "I am the only female among them. Dresmor desired a son, someone to pass his corrupt beliefs to, someone to follow in his footsteps, an heir."

"Then why does he have you locked up in here?"

"Days ago, the magic of that orb," she pointed to a nearby table where a globe of what looked like crystal sat on a little stand. "Revealed that the child I carry is female. Dresmor was displeased. I was taken here to have the unborn child terminated, and then I was to be punished for disobeying him."

"Disobeying him? You can't help what gender the child is!" Jaelyn was outraged.

"Dresmor does not see it that way."

"He's mad." Jaelyn said, angrily. "He's completely insane!"

Ethedriira nodded. "Yes. He went mad long ago. There is only so much one's heart and mind can take."

"What do you mean?"

"There is no time for a story. You are here and only you can save my daughter. Please, she may be born of his blood, but she is also born of mine and despite it all, I love her. Please, help. If not for me, then for her."

Jaelyn nodded. "All right, but first we-"

Her words were cut off by Ethedriira's scream and she grabbed Jaelyn's arm, her fingers nearly severing skin. Her yellow eyes were wide with fright.

"Something's wrong..."

Jaelyn moved and saw the blood. There was a lot. She had no idea if that was a bad thing or not, but she wasn't going to take any chances.

Jaelyn put her hand over Ethedriira's and tried to pry it off of her arm. She then put her hands on the drow's shoulders and looked straight at her with a calm face.

"Relax." she said in a gentle voice. "Just breathe."

Jaelyn then looked up at Bishop, who merely stood there, having no idea what was going on, other than the fact that this new drow was about to pop out a kid any minute now.

"Look, I need your help, all right?" she said in a voice that was dead serious. "You can be mean to me all you want after this, but right now I need you."

Jaelyn prepared herself for the start of an argument, for him to refuse until she threatened him into it, but none of it ever came.

"What do you want, then?"

The response was so unexpected that she merely sat there, staring at him, having no idea what to say. She blinked multiple times.

It took an impatient look from him to get her mind back on track.

"Oh!" she blurted. "Okay, I need something to wrap the baby in, whatever you can find."

"That it?"

"Yes."

He strode over to the door and Jaelyn's gut suddenly twisted in panic. She knew what might happen if he walked through that door. There was a chance he wouldn't come back, but she was trusting him to do the right thing. She was trusting in that insignificant dim light she'd once seen in him to shine through.

When Bishop reached the hall, he strode back the way they'd come. His pace was steady at first, then it turned into a brisk walk, and then a jog. Before he knew it, he found himself running. He covered the rest of the corridor in record time and then very nearly flew up the stairs. The darkness didn't impede him this time. Nothing impeded him when he was escaping.

**xxxxxxxxxx**

Jaelyn waited and waited. The pregnant drow screamed and screamed.

The drow ranger's gaze flicked over to the threshold and she frowned. It had been fifteen minutes already.

Jaelyn tried to keep Ethedriira calm and kept telling her to breathe, but her labor pains were getting more and more frequent and closer together. There was a lot of blood, too. Ethedriira's face was wan. Well, wan for a drow. Her lips were pale. Jaelyn knew she was losing too much blood. There wasn't supposed to be this much. She knew one of them, mother or child, would not survive. And it was very possible that both of them might not make it. It was terrible, but Jaelyn prayed to Silvanus to spare the child. She had seen too many dead children this day. She could not bear to watch another child die.

Jaelyn's gaze went back to the door again. Her frown deepened.

_You better not do this, you bastard._

Up stairs, Bishop stood in the armory alone, contemplating his situation.

What tiny bit of conscience he had left was running around desperately inside him, trying to get his attention and not having much luck at it.

After all, what did it matter what happened to that drow woman and her kid? It wasn't his concern and he sure as the hells didn't care. But then he remembered how he'd reacted, how he'd felt when he saw those bodies piled, those dead children.

Why was he thinking about that? There was no reason for it.

_Yeah, just as there was no reason for what those bastards did. They were just kids, not even worth the effort. What could kids do to them? Nothing. It was pointless, pointless evil._

But that had nothing to do with the pregnant drow. It wasn't like she was in danger. The other drow could handle things herself. He didn't want anything to do with it.

Yet he also knew that it wouldn't hurt anything to help her with this. All she was asking for was something she could wrap the kid in. It wasn't like she was asking him to help her bring the kid into the world.

But it would mean something if he helped her. She would make something of it. And he was just a little sick and tired of her making nothing into something. Then again, if he was standing there now, actually contemplating helping her when he'd never thought about it before...didn't that mean something?

He shook his head, not liking where that train of thought was going.

_It doesn't mean anything_, he told himself firmly and made himself believe it.

Back down in the chambers, the time had come for a baby to be brought into the world.

Ethedriira was already bearing down before Jaelyn was even ready, shouting profanities in drow. Jaelyn thrust her hands under Ethedriira's dress and positioned them so that she could catch the newborn the moment it entered the world.

She cursed Bishop to the hells. She cursed him to the Abyss. She prayed for demons to torment him for eternity. She herself planned on doing some terrible things to him when next she saw him. She may even let Feral rip something off of him. Then she'd sew it back on and let him rip it off again.

It wasn't just about the needs of the child. She was scared and she just needed someone there, she needed someone there in case something went wrong.

_Bastard. Worthless piece of-_

Something soft dropped at her side and then a gruff voice spoke from beside her.

"It's all I could find."

Jaelyn spared Bishop a surprised glance that transitioned into a grateful one.

"It's perfect." she replied. "Now, I need you to put it under my hands here."

He knelt down beside her and spread the old torn cloak he'd found under Jaelyn's hands.

"I was hoping to get my hands under a woman's skirt, but I didn't think it would be like this." he remarked. "If there truly are gods, then they've got a sick, twisted sense of humor."

Jaelyn's mouth twitched into a tiny smile and she peered above the V of Ethedriira's legs to look the female drow in the face.

"It's time." she said, but it appeared Ethedriira was already aware of this fact.

She grabbed handfuls of her own dress, grit her teeth and bore down with all the power and strength her female body could muster. She screamed, she cursed and she struggled. Tears mixed in with the sweat on her face. Jaelyn prayed the blood loss hadn't made her too weak. It didn't.

When the child's head appeared, Jaelyn let out a sigh of relief. She had feared the baby would come out backwards. However, the flow of blood was getting heavier.

"That's disgusting on so many levels." remarked the ranger from beside her.

Jaelyn didn't bother to look at him.

"Bishop..." she said in a scolding tone. "Shut up."

A few more tortured cries and vigorous pushes later and Jaelyn was juggling a warm, slippery newborn. She cleared away goo from the baby's mouth and nose and then gave her a little smack to jump start her. When the child's high-pitched cries filled the room, Ethedriira smiled and laid back.

"Baeylene." she breathed and it was her last breath.

Ethedriira's head lolled to one side and her eyes fixed on nothing.

Jaelyn looked over at her, her heart growing cold. "Ethedriira?"

Bishop reached out, took the mother's wrist and after a moment, he shook his head and confirmed Jaelyn's fear in words.

"Dead."

Jaelyn shut her eyes for a moment and sighed dismally.

She gently laid the wailing baby on the old cloak. She drew her dagger from her belt and severed the umbilical cord and then she proceeded to clean and wrap the child.

"What did she say? Anything useful?" he inquired.

"No, only that this child is Dresmor's. He's trying to breed a son, someone to follow in his footsteps. He used that globe over there to find out the gender of the child. When he learned it was female, he wanted to terminate it. That's why she was brought here."

"Why? Why not just do it at the temple?"

Jaelyn shook her head, angrily. "I don't know and I don't care."

She lifted the child up and cradled her close as she got to her feet.

Bishop stood over at the table, studying the globe with mild interest. They could probably use it for something, whatever it was. Unless it was only an instrument to tell the gender of an unborn child. It didn't look like that was all it could do, though. It looked like and smelt like magic. Even if they couldn't use it, taking it still seemed a good idea. At least the drow wouldn't have it.

He lifted the globe, tucked it under an arm, and then turned around.

Jaelyn stood over the dead drow's body, cradling the baby. There was a look of sorrow on her face and the glitter of tears stood in her eyes.

He frowned ever so slightly.

"There was nothing to be done about it." he said, gruffly. "So, there's no point dwelling on it."

She knew he was right, but it didn't change anything. The child's mother was still dead. A child needed a mother, or at least some kind of parent, someone to care for her. This child had nothing.

Ethedriira had uttered a word before she'd died. No, it wasn't a word. It was a name.

Baeylene. It had to do with luck if Jaelyn's knowledge of drow names served her correctly. It was a well chosen name, apparently. The child was very lucky, indeed.

When they returned sometime later to the surface and joined the others, Jaelyn received a round of shocked looks and gasps.

She couldn't blame them for their reactions.

Her expression was grim, she was covered in blood that wasn't her own and was cradling a newborn baby to her.

Quin was the first to speak.

"What in the hells?" he blurted, eying the wiggling infant.

"It's a long story." Jaelyn replied.

"I'll say. So, what happened?"

She sighed miserably. "Look, I'll tell you later. Right now, I just want to get out of here."


	23. Chapter 23: The Human Pacifier

**xxxxxx**

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-Three:**

**The Human Pacifier**

**xxxxxx**

**With** some daylight still left, the group moved onward to their next destination, the cliff cave Gulaonar had told them about.

On the way, Jaelyn explained what had happened in the underground chamber and who the child was. She had to tell the tale twice, once to Quin in Common and then in drow for the natives.

The cave was about fifteen miles to the east of the stone building. It had been decided that they shouldn't travel all of it, that they needed to rest before they reached the cave.

It was there that they would likely find drow to fight, for the cave was close to the temple stronghold. So, it was essential that everyone be rested up.

They traveled about six miles and then called it a day, setting down camp in an inconspicuous portion of the area, behind a collection of boulders.

Jaelyn noticed that a good portion of the group was keeping their distance from her. It wasn't exactly surprising. Something about a woman holding a baby usually had almost every man in the vicinity pretending to not notice while at the same time keeping a wide berth. She might as well have been a lazar. Jaelyn bet all the gold on her that the men avoiding her were bachelors. She wasn't surprised in the least that Bishop was one of them. Even Feral was keeping his distance. The cat-bear seemed abhorrent of the baby, perhaps even jealous. He wanted absolutely nothing to do with her.

Quin and Akereth on the other hand were the only males keeping her company and even offering to help out. Quin was especially titillated by the baby. He cooed and made goofy faces at her every chance he got. Baeylene wasn't exactly expressive, but her pale yellow eyes blinked back at Quin in what could only be described as curiosity.

Akereth had been kind enough to construct a makeshift diaper out of a small part of the old cloak Baeylene was wrapped in. Jaelyn could only pray it held up until they could find something else to use as a diaper.

The baby had been silent for most of the trip, but once Jaelyn had her bed roll laid out and was looking to lay down until dinner, the tiny drow started to wail. She was upset about something and Jaelyn feared the baby was hungry. It was inevitable, of course. The problem was trying to find something to feed her. She needed her mother's milk, or something to substitute for it, but there were no lactating mammals present.

Jaelyn lifted the child up and rocked her gently, making shushing noises as if they might have the power to overcome hunger and calm her.

Quin looked over from his bed roll. "What's wrong with her?"

"She's hungry, I suspect." Jaelyn replied. "But we have nothing to feed her."

"Bishop's got some rabbit cooking on the spit." the halfling suggested.

"A newborn baby can't eat meat. She needs something in a liquid form. She needs milk or something like it."

"But there's no-"

"I know." Jaelyn cut him off, frustrated.

Quin looked thoughtful for a few moments and then the metaphorical lightbulb flickered to life over his head.

"Hey! Maybe we could find some berries or fruit or something and then mash it up for her." he said, excitedly. "She could eat that, right?"

Jaelyn mulled it over. She wasn't sure about it, but she supposed there really wasn't a choice in the matter. The baby had to be fed, regardless.

"Maybe."

Quin jumped up from his spot. "Great, I'll see if I can find something."

Jaelyn watched him scamper off into the forest with a smile on her face. She could always count on Quin for anything.

In the drow's arms, Baeylene squirmed and lamented her empty stomach. How loud did a newborn have to scream to get something to eat around here?

From across the camp, two men watched Jaelyn, one with an expression of longing and the other with an expression of confusion, while inside this man, Denial clashed with Desire.

After a moment, the two men looked at one another, knowing the other would be watching her as well. Their expressions darkened into sneers simultaneously. Two sets of eyes, one a deep, sparkling sapphire and the other a lustrous gold, narrowed in abhorrence of each other. They both then glanced back at the drow. Both men waited for her to look up. They knew whoever she set her gaze on first would be the one she was truly interested in.

And she did look up, but her gaze met neither sapphire nor gold. They met green. She looked out into the forest.

Jaelyn got up and decided to stroll around the camp with the baby, hoping that maybe the motion would quiet her down since she'd been silent for the entire journey.

No such luck. The wailing continued.

Jaelyn looked up to notice that men were scurrying out of her path, making a dash for the other side of the camp.

She sighed and shook her head.

"She's just a baby, you cowards!" she yelled at them in drow.

She noticed a few shameful looks, as well as several sets of eyes finding the ground of sudden, remarkable interest. Then there was a small chuckle from Akereth.

He stood up from his place and approached her.

"Would you like me to hold her for a while?"

Jaelyn gave him a look of relief and stepped up to him, gently transferring the crying baby into his arms.

"Thanks." she breathed. "I'm not cut out for motherhood."

The native smiled at her. "I don't know, you seem to be doing a good job to me."

"You think so?"

He nodded. "I think you'll be a good mother...some day."

She colored. "I don't know. I've never thought about it that much, seeing as how I'm not exactly welcome in society. Isn't easy to find a date, let alone someone to have a child with. I don't think I'll ever have any children. What would be the point of bringing a child of my heritage into a world that will never accept them? They'll always be discriminated against, always held back and they'll never be able to make something of themself."

"But you've made something of yourself, have you not?" Akereth replied.

She gave him a funny look. "Have I? No, I'm not anything. Just an outcast that's kept herself alive all these years by staying away from cities and villages. What kind of life is that?"

"A life that has led you here." the native said with a smile. "A life that has led you on the path of a heroine."

Jaelyn sighed. "I really wish you'd quit saying that. I haven't even done anything that merits calling me a heroine."

"You saved the child, didn't you?"

"I was only doing what had to be done. The baby could have died as well."

"Which is what a heroine would have done. And I know you'll do more that will prove my point."

"Look, you're putting a lot of pressure on me." she said, seriously. "And it's not fair. Instead of expecting me and my companions to save the day, you should be relying on yourselves. What will you do if you get attacked by something when we've returned home? You have got to learn to fight back, to defend your home."

"Then you won't fight with us?"

"Yes, I will fight _with_ you, Akereth, but I won't fight _for_ you."

He looked at her, thoughtfully and then inclined his head. "I understand."

"Good, becau-"

Baeylene's high-pitched cry cut Jaelyn off.

Akereth rocked her and smiled down at the infant before putting his gaze on Jaelyn.

"She's got a pair of lungs on her, doesn't she?"

"She's hungry." Jaelyn said as she reached out and touched the fine white hair on the child's head. "What do you know about feeding a baby?"

"Well, I helped raise Akar after our mother died." he replied. "He was very young at the time, about two island lives. He ate a lot of mashed up stuff, but I don't think that'll work with this little darling. She's far too young for it."

The drow frowned. "I knew you were going to say that, but I was hoping you wouldn't. She has to eat something or she's going to starve to death."

"Well, I suppose we could try mashing something up. I know there's blueberries somewhere around here."

Jaelyn nodded. There were blueberries everywhere. You couldn't walk out there in the forest without stumbling over a blueberry shrub.

"Quin went out to see if he could find some stuff."

Akereth nodded. "I'll ask around and see if I can find some utensils to use."

He shifted the infant back to Jaelyn and then went off to question his people about any useful belongings of theirs.

The drow tried walking around with the baby again. She knew it wasn't going to work, but she needed something to do while she waited for Quin and Akereth to return. The baby's crying was wearing on her nerves. It wasn't that she was irritated, it was just that the baby girl's lamenting was such a terrible sound that it pulled at the heartstrings. Jaelyn was almost ready to wail right along with her.

"Stop crying." Jaelyn pleaded, which only seemed to make the baby cry louder.

"Is that thing going to be making that racket all night?"

Jaelyn turned her head and glared at the one who'd spoken. The ranger was sitting with his back against one of the boulders, cutting into an apple with his sword since he no longer had his dagger. He was watching her with a faint, amused expression.

"She's not a thing, Bishop." she replied, irritably. "And you'd be crying like this, too if you just came into the world to find that you're being cared for by people who have no idea what they're doing. Then you're looking forward to your very first meal, and the idiots don't know what to feed you."

He laughed and shook his head.

"It's not funny." Jaelyn snapped. "If we don't feed her properly, she could get sick or die."

The ranger stood up and strode over to her.

He gave the infant in her arms an uninterested and slightly disgusted look and then held out a small slice of his apple.

"Give her that. It ought to shut her up."

"She can't eat solid stuff."

"I know that," he replied gruffly. "But she can take the juice out of the apple."

Jaelyn blinked at him in surprise. That might actually work.

She took the slice of fruit from him and then held it gently against Baeylene's mouth. It took a few moments, but she finally quieted down and accepted the taste, sucking against the fruit.

Jaelyn laughed and looked up at Bishop with a degree of admiration in her gaze.

"How did you know to do that?"

He shrugged. "I just wanted her to shut up, and putting something in her mouth was the only way to do it."

"Well, I won't gripe since it worked." she replied and then added in a voice filled with sweet sincerity, "Thank you."

He shrugged again as if it really didn't matter to him and then he strode off to the campfire. However, he did something that surprised himself.

He looked back.

One thing a man was never supposed to do is look back. Why did he have to look back? It was an action that said too much.

He was only lucky that she wasn't watching, that she was too engaged with the infant to have noticed him, or he undoubtedly would have put questions in her head about why he'd do such a thing and the last thing he wanted was for her to get even more curious about him. She knew enough about him already; she didn't need to know more, especially not about what went on inside him.

_Idiot_, he scolded inwardly. _Control yourself. You might not be so lucky the next time._

With a frown, he sat before the fire and forced his attention onto the rabbits roasting on their spits. The desire to look again was scratching at the back of his mind. He squirmed under the temptation.

_Don't do it, damn you. Don't you fucking do it._

He looked.

_Fucking hells._

What made it worse was that this time she was looking, too, and when she offered him a smile, he felt something inside him stir. And it ached. It was a terrible sensation and it wasn't the first time he'd felt it.

Long ago, there had been...

_No._

He blocked the thought. There was no use in thinking about what happened long ago. What you did was learn from it and he'd learned that the sensation he'd felt moments ago only led to trouble. It was to be avoided, if he knew what was good for him. No good ever came of it. And more often than not, it made you weak.

He scowled at her and then tore his gaze away to peer miserably into the fire.

Jaelyn had no idea where that hostile look was coming from and she wanted to ask if something was wrong, but decided against it. Asking him would be a waste of time.

And then she saw that hostility fade into distress, and waste of time or not, she changed her mind and decided to ask anyway, simply out of her concern for him.

"Hey," she called.

Bishop looked up, but he didn't look at her for long. His gaze drifted off slightly to her side and behind her, where Quin was returning from the forest.

"Are you-" Her question went unasked.

It was just as well.

"Look what I found!" Quin announced as he bounced to Jaelyn's side, holding an arm full of a variety of fruits and even a few vegetables.

Her eyes brightened at all the edibles Quin held.

"Quin," she said. "This is fantastic!"

The halfling grinned and nodded. "There's a pouch tied on my belt filled with blueberries as well. Now all we have to do is find something to mash this fruit with and something to put it in."

"Akereth is taking care of that."

"Great." Quin said and eyed the baby, finally realizing she was quiet. "Hey, where'd that apple come from?"

Jaelyn nodded her head in the ranger's direction with a smile.

The man had gone back to staring at the fire and was currently poking around the embers with a stick for no other reason than for the sake of doing something.

Quin looked up at Jaelyn with a quirked brow.

"Eh?"

"I don't know. She's quiet, so I'm not questioning his motives."

"Did you at least check to make sure it wasn't poisoned first?"

She laughed and lightly reprimanded him. "Come on, Quin."

The halfling snorted. "I wouldn't put it past him."

Her laugh died.

"Well, I would." she replied more sharply and angrily than she meant to.

Quin's expression was one of surprise. His eyes widened into saucers, and he blinked at her. She had never used a tone like that on him before.

"Jaelyn..."

She sighed heavily. "Sorry. It's just that after the thing with the ruby and yesterday in the underground chamber, I think there's more to him than the bastard we see, or at the very least, he's capable of more, of being...nicer."

Quin stared at her. "You're kidding, right?"

"No." She said, irrevocably. It was a decision she had made in the underground chamber, when he came back. "People aren't always what they seem on the outside, Quin. You should know that better than anyone. _I_ know it better than anyone. Some people choose to be a certain way to protect themselves."

"That's true, Jae; I won't argue about that, but sometimes those people play that role for so long that they permanently forget who they really are and all that's left is the mask they wear. What you see is what you get, at least where Bishop is concerned."

She shook her head in refusal. "I don't believe that."

Quin studied her for a long time, marking the resolute look on her face and the fierceness in her eyes. It all pointed to one thing and the halfling cringed inwardly, knowing his friend was only setting herself up to be hurt and disappointed. But he had to ask to be sure, even though he had a feeling he wasn't going to get a clear answer. It was mostly her reaction that he wanted to see.

Jaelyn was about to fall victim to one of Quin's blunt questions.

"Jae, are you in love with him?"

The question sent her reeling, or at least it sent her insides reeling. She had a bit of trouble collecting herself due to the fact that there was a tumult of confusing emotions and thoughts raising the hells inside her.

"What?" she squeaked. She cleared her throat and tried again. "I mean, what?"

Quin gave her an impatient expression, which sucked the truth right out of it. She wilted.

"I don't know."

"What do you mean, 'you don't know'? It's not difficult. You both just make it difficult."

"How am I supposed to know?" she cried at him and then quickly lowered her voice. "I've never been in love before. Hells, I've never even been attracted to anyone before. So how am I supposed to know what's love and what's not?"

"You just know." Quin replied. "Falling in love isn't the same for everyone. Sometimes it happens at first sight or over time. Sometimes even good, selfless deeds make it happen. I suppose it's good that you don't know. That probably means that you aren't in love. You have a chance to forget about him. You shouldn't waste yourself on nothing."

That did it. She was sick and tired of people telling her she was wasting her time and telling her he was nothing.

"What do you know, huh?" she shouted, not caring if she drew attention to herself. She was led by anger now.

Quin was quite startled by the hostility in her voice and the flames in her eyes.

"Have you ever even bothered to look past what's on the outside? No! You just look at what you see and assume that's all there is! But I've seen something else."

"Did you ever consider that it might be an act? Did you ever consider the possibility that you're being lead on, that you're being drawn into a trap?"

"There's no reason why he'd do something like that." she replied stubbornly.

"He doesn't need a reason, Jae. He's cruel and full of hatred."

Jaelyn shook her head, sadly. "And did you ever consider that the cruelness and hatred might be a defense?"

"If it is, it's the best damn defense I've ever seen in my life."

"Maybe some people have been hurt too much in life that they feel they need that type of defense."

Quin sighed. "We've never argued like this before, Jae and I've never seen you this passionate about anything. I'm starting to think that you really are in love with him."

"I don't believe in giving up on people. I've seen good in him, even if it was so small as to seem insignificant. It's there, Quin, so maybe it can be drawn out."

"You're putting a lot of hope in someone who holds no hope for anyone else, not even himself."

"All the more reason why I should hope and why I should keep trying. I believe in the good, Quin, and I believe it's in him as much as I believe it's in you and me. It's just buried deep."

"Too deep." Quin replied and then shook his head. "Look, I think the guy's beyond help; he doesn't want to change, but if you feel this strongly about it, I guess I can be more supportive."

Jaelyn smiled. "Thank you, Quin. You're a good friend."

"Yeah, I know." he replied with a grin. "I'm great, aren't I?"

They both shared a good-natured laugh, something to ease the tension.

It was a few moments later when Akereth finally returned with a clay cup in one hand, a small stone in the other, and with something hanging from his shoulder.

Jaelyn and Quin were sitting on her bed roll, drenching the infant in syrupy baby talk and making ridiculous faces at her, which only did a fine job of making her cry more. Baeylene had grown tired of the apple and refused to take from it anymore and now she was fussy again, undoubtedly still hungry.

Akereth knelt in front of them and sat the cup and stone down.

"It was all I could find, I'm afraid." he said in drow and then pulled the strap from his shoulder. A bladder hanged from it. "But one of the others provided this and explained that it could be used to feed the child with. All we have to do is find something to put over the opening that will allow liquid to gradually pour out."

Jaelyn nodded and then translated for Quin.

The halfling nodded with a smile. "That's a good idea."

Quin looked at the native man, gave him his trademark grin and a thumbs up.

"Good. Idea." he said slowly, as if a weaker pace of his words might help the native understand them better.

Akereth looked curiously at the halfling's thumb and then at the grin that seemed to take up the small one's face. He had no idea what any of it meant, but he assumed this one was trying to be friendly.

"What does that mean, what he's doing?" he asked Jaelyn.

"Well, this," She cradled the baby with one arm and then performed a thumbs up with her free hand. "Is a universal hand sign meaning 'good' or 'victory'. Quin just means that your idea is a good one."

"Ah, I see." Akereth nodded.

He looked down at his thumb for a moment. He then glanced at Jaelyn. "How do you say that word?"

"Good." she said in Common.

Akereth lifted his thumb, thrust it at Quin and then said the word slowly, emphasizing the 'oo' sound. "Good."

Quin chuckled. "Not bad, not bad at all. Hey, Jae, why don't you try teaching him Common?"

She quickly shook her head. "Oh, no. I've got enough on my plate as it is and he's going to have his hands full with learning how to fight. Let's just focus on those important things right now."

Quin gave a shrug. "Just an idea."

A lot of time and effort went into concocting something Baeylene could eat. The trio even sacrificed their own dinners to finish the job. They had decided it would be best to fill the entire bladder with the concoction of fruit juice and vegetable juice so they wouldn't have to go through this a second time. The baby girl cried and cried until she finally exhausted herself and fell asleep on Jaelyn's bed roll, where the drow had put her, but when the infant's dinner was ready, Jaelyn was forced to wake her.

There was a collective groan from around the camp when the infant started screaming. Jaelyn smiled sheepishly and tried ignoring the murderous looks. She was shocked to find that out of all those glaring eyes, not one set was gold in hue. The owner of those eyes wasn't where he'd been previously. He was even further away from camp, sitting where the firelight had not the strength to reach, his back against the trunk of a tree. Jaelyn was further surprised to find Feral curled up beside him, asleep. Bishop didn't seem to mind the cat-bear's company. His head was tilted back and he seemed to be peering up at the night sky. He had a knee bent and an arm rest across it. It was a relaxed pose, but he was anything but relaxed. His face belied his posture. Again, he had that miserable look, like he was sad about something. But that was impossible, right? Nothing made him sad or happy. He only got angry. Yet there the emotion was, written into rough, handsome features, and it was weird seeing him like that. It was an expression that didn't belong on him. It pulled at her heartstrings. What had put that look there?

She desired to go to him, to talk with him, even if he refused to talk back. Maybe a little people company was what he needed, but she knew that was ridiculous. He was a loner, and more than likely, he hated all of them, anyway. Still, she wished there was something she could do to make that look go away.

It was good that Quin drew her attention away from him to put it on the hungry infant in her arms, for the moment she looked away from him, the grim-faced ranger pulled his gaze away from the sky and set it upon her.

After surprising and disgusting himself with his behavior earlier, Bishop had come to a firm decision that he knew was going to save him a lot of trouble.

He wasn't going to bother with her anymore. Getting her into bed wasn't worth all this, it wasn't worth having to deal with that irritating sensation again. It wasn't worth turning his life upside down for.

No more of this game of seduction, no more of this telling her things about himself. And definitely no more being nice to her.

What in the hells was he thinking in the first place? Well, that was just it, wasn't it? He wasn't thinking. At least not with his brain. He was letting another part of his anatomy make the decisions, another part that could be easily quieted by a night with one of these native women. But that was part of the problem; he didn't want a native woman, he wanted her.

She wasn't anything. She was just a drow, that was it; she shouldn't have had this effect on him.

Avoiding her and not playing these games anymore was his best option of not ending up doing something incredibly stupid, like caring about her, or even worse, falling in love with her. Love was a weakness; it was easily used against you. As long as you had no weaknesses, you survived. It was that simple. Besides, he didn't need some clingy woman crowding his space. He told himself this, but deep down he knew she wasn't that type of woman. It was just easier to make himself believe she was.

Meanwhile, the bladder idea was working splendidly. Jaelyn smiled down at Baeylene, who took juice from the rim of the bladder as if she were taking milk from her mother.

Akereth and Quin were crowded around her, watching with interest, while the rest of the camp, satisfied that the infant was going to be quiet now, were getting ready to bed down for the night.

"It's working." Quin whispered with a grin and then patted Jaelyn's shoulder. "Looks like she'll make it after all."

She nodded and shared joyful smiles with her companions. Akereth reached out a finger and stroked the baby girl's face and then he looked up at Jaelyn.

"It's strange," he said in drow. "She looks like you somehow."

Jaelyn smirked. "Oh, they say all drow look alike."

He shook his head. "No, she really does look like you. It's the shape of the eyes and the nose. That's very strange."

"It happens, I suppose."

"Perhaps." he replied, but he sounded uncertain and that uncertainty manifested itself as a dent in his brow. "Gulaonar will want to meet her, you know. She is his niece, after all."

Jaelyn glanced up at him in surprise. She hadn't thought of it like that until now. Baeylene was a product of Dresmor, who was Gulaonar's brother. She was his niece. Gulaonar was probably going to shit bricks. Or, given how secretive Gulaonar seemed to be, he might already know about the female drow that had been carrying Dresmor's child.

Quin and Akereth left her to feeding the child and went to their designated places to get some rest. After all, tomorrow would likely be a day filled with fighting and perhaps even death. They were going to need to be well rested if they wanted to avoid the latter.

Once the baby had had enough of the vegetable and fruit juice, Jaelyn laid her down on her bed roll, and then she laid beside her, pulling her blanket over them both.

Jaelyn had never been around a baby before, so she had assumed that after being fed, Baeylene would sleep through the night. So, she was surprised when the baby started hollering a few hours later, waking the entire camp. Well, everyone but Quin; he could sleep through anything.

Jaelyn ignored the looks of irritation from the natives and lifted Baeylene into her arms, rocking her, hoping the motion would quiet her down. It didn't. In fact, it successfully made her spit up on Jaelyn's chest.

"Oh, come on." the drow groused with a disgusted look. "Ugh. It's all warm. Why couldn't you throw up before I picked you up?"

There was a small laugh from her side and then a hand thrust itself under her nose. It was connected to Akereth and held out a dull colored piece of some kind of fabric to wipe herself off with.

"I forgot to warn you." he said with an amused look. "Baby's tend to vomit after they eat, especially if they're rocked. Hand her to me, you wipe yourself off. The crying is probably her way of telling you she needs to be changed."

Jaelyn grinned. "Oh, then by all means, you take over from here."

She gently shifted Baeylene into Akereth's arms and the native man took the infant over near where his bedroll was at.

While Jaelyn wiped the baby puke off her leather armor, she watched Akereth change Baeylene. It was adorable the way he made faces at her to try and calm her down, and the way he talked to her in that sweet tone and oversimplified his words. He was as bad as Quin, but it was nice. It was attractive.

She'd never thought about having children; there had never been any reason to, but if she ever did have one, she wanted the father of her child to be like this. Akereth was very loving to Baeylene, a baby that wasn't his, that wasn't even his race. She could only imagine how he might be with his own children. It was a very attractive thought.

_A ridiculous thought. You don't even know him._

She knew that, but it did nothing to make him any less attractive to her at the moment.

When Baeylene was changed, Akereth lifted her up and gently rocked her. Jaelyn was shocked beyond words when he started singing to her in his native language.

It was a traditional song that he had sung to his little brother, Akar when he was only a few years older than Baeylene.

Akereth's singing voice was soft, soothing and surprisingly good, yet it wasn't enough to quell Baeylene's cries. She wiggled and writhed in his arms like a beached fish.

He chuckled and held onto her.

"You better take her. She's a little fed up with me, I think."

The infant changed hands and Jaelyn cradled her close.

"Well, she definitely isn't going to appreciate music when she gets older." Jaelyn said. "You've got a lovely singing voice, Akereth. I'm going to have to get you to sing me to sleep someday."

He smiled. "I like that idea. I'll like it even more if we're sharing the bed."

Jaelyn's eyes popped wide as her face grew hot.

"Akereth." she reprimanded in embarrassment.

He laughed. "You blush."

"Well, what do you expect? I used to get no male attention at all, now I've got two men making sexual innuendos and passes at me. I think a little blushing is warranted."

"Two men?" Akereth's face darkened and a sneer tugged at his lips. "Oh..._him_."

Jaelyn peered at him closely, allowing herself a small smirk. "You aren't jealous of him, are you?"

"Absolutely not." Akereth replied, drawing himself up proudly. "I just feel that he's not worthy of you, that's all. And if he has any sense at all, he should realize it as well and give up."

Jaelyn sighed. "Now, don't you start with this."

Akereth put up his hands in resignation. "I'll do as you wish. If you need me to help with the baby, I'll be over here."

She shook her head. "Just try and get some rest. I'll be fine."

He only nodded and went back to his bedroll.

Baeylene cried for an hour straight, much to the ire of everyone in camp. After almost everyone had a go at trying to get Baeylene back to sleep, some of the natives had bundled up their blankets to put over their heads to drown out the incessant screams and attempt to get some sleep.

Dawn was four hours away and Baeylene didn't appear to be letting up.

Jaelyn was exhausted and on the verge of crying along with the child out of sheer frustration, and she wasn't the only one getting frustrated.

The baby's crying had awoken Bishop before it had awoken everyone else, but he'd remained quiet about it, expecting the drow to take care of it, but an hour had passed and he was now fed up.

"Will you shut that thing up?" he growled from his spot, glaring at the drow.

Jaelyn shot him a withering look, but he saw her lip tremble.

"Stop calling her a thing and what do you think I've been trying to do for the last godsdamned hour?" she shouted at him and her voice wavered a bit.

"Feed her."

"She's not hungry." Jaelyn tried to keep her voice calm, but she was nearing hysteria. If this baby didn't quiet down soon, she was going to go insane.

"I don't care if she's hungry or not, just put something in her damn mouth and shut her up before I do it!"

Jaelyn gaped at him and then her face creased into a hot sneer.

"Yeah? Go ahead and try it, you bastard!" she said through her teeth.

She was surprised when he didn't move, when he didn't respond with hostility the way she was expecting, the way she had gotten used to. He merely sat there and looked away from her challenging stare.

"Just shut her up." he replied in a bitter tone.

She stood there, staring at him, wondering what was wrong with him. He never backed down when she challenged him, and he had just given up so easily.

Well, that could wait. Right now she needed to focus on getting Baeylene quiet.

"Instead of sitting there complaining about it, you could help."

"I don't know anything about babies." he replied, irritably. "And I don't want to know anything about them."

"You don't need to know anything about them." she replied. "You can just hold her. Come over here."

He shot her a heated look.

Fine, if he wouldn't come to her, then she'd go to him.

"Don't bring it over here!"

Despite the anger that had just been between them, Jaelyn laughed. She couldn't help it. He had such a horrified look on his face. It was something she expected of him.

She knelt in front of him and he was shrinking away.

"Oh, stop it. Surely a tough guy like you isn't afraid of a little baby." she teased with a small smile.

"No one said anything about being afraid. I hate kids."

"Be that as it may, you're the only one that hasn't held her yet."

"And I'm not going to, either. Get it away, I'm warning you."

Jaelyn gave him a scolding look. "Do you want her quiet or not? It's not going to hurt you to try and quiet her like the rest of us did."

He narrowed his eyes into a glare. "I hate you for this."

She grinned and leaned toward him a bit.

Their close proximity unnerved him. Being this close to her, there was only one thing he wanted to do to her and he had sworn to himself earlier that he wasn't going to think like this anymore.

He shook his head to rid himself of the lusty images flashing across his mind and then she shifted the lamenting infant into his hands.

She was by far the smallest, lightest and most fragile thing his hands had ever held. He never would've imagined himself holding an infant, but here he was, and she was just so tiny. It felt weird.

"Uh..." Jaelyn said and bit her lip when he looked up at her. "You're holding her wrong."

He frowned, was about to say something, but Jaelyn's hand covered his, the one under the child's back and moved it gently upward until it cradled her head.

The contact created that stir in him again and he pulled out all his defenses to block it out.

Jaelyn chuckled lightly. "You look very uncomfortable."

He frowned again. "That's 'cause I am."

The next words Jaelyn spoke surprised them both.

"Would it help if I told you how attractive you look holding her?"

"No," he replied after a moment and with a cold tone. "I'm not interested in what you think."

His words were hurtful as much as they were confusing. She hid the hurt as well as she could.

"Fine, I only meant..." Jaelyn trailed off, suddenly realizing something.

Baeylene was quiet.

When Jaelyn looked down at the baby, she was shocked to find the pale yellow eyes staring up at Bishop with unbreakable interest. She looked positively intrigued by him and Jaelyn could hardly even believe it. For one thing, Baeylene wasn't even a day old yet and already she was showing signs of intelligence and for another, out of all the people she could be interested in, it turned out to be the ranger, who wanted nothing to do with her.

"I don't believe this." she said, shaking her head. "Look at her, she likes you!"

He smirked. "Of course. What female could refuse my charm?"

Jaelyn scoffed. "Charm? What charm?"

"No need in getting jealous, drow. She's only a baby."

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, shut up, you idiot."

"Since she's finally quiet, you can take her."

Jaelyn shook her head. "No, not yet. Wait until she falls asleep. The moment you put her down while she's still awake, she's just going to start crying again."

She started to stand up. "Thanks for the help."

"Where in the Nine Hells do you think you're going?" he snapped.

"To sleep?"

"Oh, no. If I have to stay up until she falls asleep, then so do you."

"But-"

"Sit your ass down."

"It's not like it's going to be-"

"Now." There was a glare in his eyes and a sharp, demanding tone in his voice. He meant business.

Jaelyn sighed. "All right, fine."

She sat herself beside him, her back against the tree.

Nothing else was said between them.

Jaelyn leaned her head back and closed her eyes for a moment to savor the silence. Her ears were ringing from all of Baeylene's crying. The baby certainly knew how to scream her head off. The silence was a blessing.

It wasn't long before Jaelyn had fallen asleep.

Bishop knew it for the fact that her head dropped on his shoulder and a good deal of her weight was leaning against him. He might have shoved her off if he wasn't so afraid of upsetting the baby and getting her to cry all over again. It was just his luck that something like this would happen. And it was just his luck that he wasn't as bothered by it as he wanted to be.

He stared out into the darkness and battled with himself.


	24. Chapter 24: Rage

**xxxxxx**

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-Four:**

**Rage**

**xxxxxx**

**It** was Quin who had awoken first for a change.

The sun was barely turning the dark, velvety night into the washed-out gray of dawn when the halfling cracked open his blue eyes.

It had been a long night, what with the baby crying and he certainly could use a few more hours of sleep, but it was the fact that it was dawn and no one had awoken him yet that had Quin rising up from his bed roll in confusion. Usually Jaelyn was shaking him awake right about now.

He looked around camp and noted that the natives were still asleep, but then he noticed that Jaelyn's spot was empty and the baby was gone, too.

At first, Quin thought she might have just gone into the woods to relieve herself or something and took the infant with her, but when he arose from his spot and looked around, he saw them.

His face broke out into a grin. How he wished he had a way to preserve this moment forever. He would've used it as much as possible to blackmail both rangers, or at the very least, to tease them mercilessly with it.

Jaelyn and Bishop sat together against a tree, both of them deep in the land of Nod. The drow's head rested against Bishop's shoulder and his was leaned back against the tree, but with his face tilted down toward Jaelyn. The infant Baeylene was awake but silent in the human ranger's arms. She looked to slide out of his limp grasp at any minute.

Quin, still smiling, approached them as quietly as possible, meaning to take the baby before she could fall, but it did him no good. A twig snapped softly under his boot and Bishop jerked awake, reaching for a dagger that was no longer there while at the same time keeping a hold on the baby. He relaxed a bit when he saw it was only the halfling.

"Ah," Quin said with humor in his voice. "You're finally awake. Long night?"

The ranger scowled at him. "Oh, no, it was perfect. Best night of my life, in fact."

Though Quin knew sarcasm when he heard it, especially around Bishop, he couldn't help but eye Jaelyn and then in a somewhat jokingly suggestive tone, he said, "I bet."

He even waggled his brows for emphasis, not that any was needed.

Despite still being tired and in a bad mood, or at least in a mood worse than usual, Bishop smirked at the halfling. "Trust me, if we'd done that, you would've heard us. Or at least her. The whole island would have."

Quin made a face. "How lovely. Do you really have to say stuff like that?"

The ranger grinned toothily. "You suggested it."

Quin took his chance to tease. "Well, seeing both of you all cuddled up together, one has to assume something happened."

Bishop gave him a dirty look. "Nothing happened."

Quin noted his snappy, defensive tone.

He laughed despite the threat of Bishop's temper. It was odd behavior, considering Bishop was just making cracks about it, and now he was getting defensive.

"Whoa, there. There's no need in getting hostile."

The ranger gave an indignant sniff and then thrust the infant at the halfling. "Just take her and get out of my face."

Quin clasped Baeylene close and shook his head at the violent way she had been handed over. Strangely, the baby didn't seem to mind the manhandling. "Jeez, what crawled up your..."

At the man's look of murder, Quin decided it was best to leave the comment unsaid. He merely rolled his eyes and walked back to his spot, making faces at Baeylene.

"Yes, you don't want to be around that mean ol' ranger anymore, do you?" he cooed at the baby, while looking over his shoulder at Bishop.

The man made an irritable face and shoved the drow off of him, more out of his anger with the halfling's assumptions than actually being bothered by her close proximity, which only did a fine job of frustrating him more.

Jaelyn awoke with a groan the moment she hit the ground.

"Wha...?" She sat up, rubbed her eyes, and looked around, groggily.

There was a look of utmost disappointment and fatigue on her face. "No, it can't be morning. Not yet. Just five more minutes."

She laid back down in the grass, a hand under her cheek. The moment she closed her eyes, looking forward to blissful sleep, the ranger spoke.

"If you're not up by the time we leave, you're getting left behind."

There was a different tone to his voice than normal. She was used to the slight mocking drawl, but now it just sounded angry and mean. Though she'd heard him use that tone before, it was usually provoked. Now he was using it for absolutely no reason at all. Something was obviously bothering him. What else was new?

"Which suits me just fine." he added, coldly. "You can keep that squalling brat with you, too. I could use the silence."

Jaelyn sat up, leaned her head back against the trunk of the tree, and offered a mocking smirk. It was about time she was on this side and he was on the other.

"Is something wrong, Bishop?"

His vexed countenance spoke volumes.

"As a matter of fact, yeah, something is." he replied, disdainfully. "I'm tired of you. I'm tired of all of you. If you know what's good for you, you'll keep your distance."

And that was that, damn it. He wasn't elaborating on what he meant and he wasn't standing there any more.

Unfortunately, the drow had other ideas.

He only got a few feet away from her before she stood up, hurried after him, and caught him by the arm to make him stop. It was strange and irritating because he hadn't even heard her move and yet there she was. He didn't turn around to face her; he didn't have to. She swung around in front of him and she was more than a little irate.

"Tired of _us_?" she demanded, poking him in the chest with each word she spoke, jabbing a little harder every time. "And what exactly have any of us done to you?"

He scowled. "We don't have time for me to list them all."

"Give me a break." she responded with as much annoyance as possible. "They haven't done anything to you. If your problem is with me, fine, but don't take it out on them. I don't get any of this. You weren't this sick of us yesterday. What's happened between yesterday and now?"

She looked thoughtful, as if she were trying to figure it out, and he had no doubt that that was exactly what she was doing. The good part about it was she was never going to know what was truly bothering him. She would assume it was because he had to deal with the kid, which was exactly what he wanted.

"Is this little attitude of yours because you had to help me out with Baeylene?" she said after a moment, and he nearly cracked a smile.

"Something like that." he replied cryptically.

She scoffed. "Right, because Gods forbid anyone should ask for your help."

"Yeah," he snapped back. "That's right, and remember that."

He started walking away again, but Jaelyn realized something about all this, something she hadn't noticed until now, and she leaped after him, catching him up again.

This time he jerked away and gave her a look of warning that she simply ignored.

"It's every time we're getting along." she noted.

He avoided her gaze and tried to ignore the panic pulling at his insides. Out of seemingly nothing at all, she found the right track that led to the truth. What in the hells was he going to do if she found it?

"What're you talking about?"

"Every time we get along, you get this attitude. You're forcing these arguments; you want to keep us at each other's throat."

He laughed. "We're at each other's throat because you seem to know every possible way to irritate me."

"There, you see? You're doing it now."

"I'm not doing anything, and if you haven't noticed, we're not getting along at the moment, so I don't see your point."

"We're not getting along because you initiated the arguing, that's my point."

"Whatever you say. I'm done with this."

"Yeah, why doesn't that surprise me?" she replied. "Any time someone makes a valid point about you, you either deny it, refuse it or simply remove yourself from the conversation. Well, not this time, pal. Why is it so horrible if we actually get along with each other?"

"Back off." he growled.

She inclined her head. "Yeah, that's what you want me to do, isn't it? Because it's easier? Easier than accepting the truth? Because if we got along, we might actually be good friends...or maybe something else. That's the real problem, isn't it? Of all the things to fear in this world, why are you afraid of that?"

She went too far this time. She knew she had crossed the line the moment the words were out of her mouth. It would have been wiser to ease into it, but she just dove in, not bothering to think of the consequences that might arise. She did what she didn't want to do; she pushed him too hard. Jaelyn could only hope the consequences would be light, that maybe he'd only call her a few choice insults, deny everything and then march off in fury. Unfortunately, she got the consequences she expected from him.

With a face full of anger, he grabbed her by the throat. The move was as quick as lightning and there was no way she could've eluded it. He shoved her back against the tree, painfully and pinned her.

Jaelyn heard the swift rustling of plant life as her animal companion darted through the undergrowth at break-neck speed, and she knew he had only one intention in mind.

"Feral, don't!" she choked out.

Feral came to an abrupt halt a few feet away from them, but he was growling like he never had before. It was a terrible sound of fury. He was so puffed up that it was almost impossible to tell he was an animal. He looked like a giant ball of fur with eyes. Bishop was only lucky Jaelyn had called him off, otherwise, he'd probably be missing a limb right now, or at the very least, there would be a gory, gaping hole in his chest.

The two rangers stared at one another, one with undefiled rage in his eyes and the other with relative calmness, despite the obvious threat. His reaction was only proving everything she had said.

"You know how easily I could choke the life out of you?"

She smiled, which simply amazed him, despite his growing anger. He was threatening to kill her and she had the gall to smile? She was either braver or more stupid than he thought.

"Probably about as easily as I could tell Feral to attack you. You know what he's capable of and all it'll take is a gesture." she replied. "Can you choke me to death before I can move my hand?"

His hand tightened around her throat, but Jaelyn showed no fear. He drew close with a nasty, evil look on his face.

"Then you better keep your eye on him, drow, 'cause one day, you may wake up to find him dead, and without him to protect you..." he smiled unpleasantly, ominously. "Well, there's no telling what might happen to you."

"I don't need Feral to protect me. I can protect myself; I've done it my entire life. "

"Yeah? Keep this up, keep pushing me," His hand tightened again for emphasis, cutting off her breath for a few seconds. "And it won't matter; nothing will save you from me."

She stared him in the eyes, levelly, unflinchingly. There was a determination there that was stunning as well as unnerving. "I'm not and will never be afraid of you."

She told the truth. He saw no fear in her at all, and he literally held her life in his hands. He could crush her windpipe with almost no effort at all, or with a mere flick of his wrist, he could break her neck. She knew this, she must know it, yet she didn't fear him. He didn't understand, didn't know why this was possible. Was it just blatant stupidity or was it all his talk about her being a coward, of running away too much? Had he created a fearless monster?

He didn't know it, but it was more than that.

Jaelyn was trusting in him, in the tiny bit of good she knew existed in him somewhere. It was a gamble, she knew. Someone who spent so much time wallowing in hatred and anger would succumb to the darkness sooner or later, but there was a chance that not all of him would be tainted by it. She'd seen it, so it wasn't a question of whether or not it was there. He had to see it, he had to believe in it. All she could do was keep pushing him in the right direction and hope he would acknowledge and accept it. It was his choice alone.

She noted his unease and was about to say something more when his expression shaped itself into a sneer. She felt his fingers digging into her neck, painfully. His palm pressed into her windpipe again and she made a choked sound.

He leaned in, his stubble-roughened cheek pressed against her softer one, and spoke harshly into her ear.

"You should be afraid."

She was getting light-headed from the lack of oxygen. Jaelyn's hands wrapped around his wrist in an effort to break the contact. It did her no good. Anger infused that hand and made it immovable.

He pulled back and glared into her eyes. He finally saw what he wanted: fear.

"Consider this your last warning. The next time, I'm just going to kill you."

There was nothing in his voice but the threat itself.

He finally let her go and stormed off, leaving her there gasping for air.

Jaelyn slipped down into the grass, coughing for air and rubbing her throat with a trembling hand. She didn't look at him; she couldn't look at him. She didn't want to see the darkness in him; it had won this time.

Feral slunk up to her and perched himself on her lap with a distressed look on his feline face.

_You should've let me attack him. I could've put him in his place for you._

She tried to fight it, she tried to restrain the tumult of emotions inside her. The last thing she wanted was for Bishop to look back and see her crying, to see that he had finally succeeded in scaring her.

It didn't matter in any case. He didn't look back. He was through looking back.

Jaelyn buried her face in Feral's fur, her arms slipping around his small form. For a moment, she was still and then it all came out of her. She sobbed softly into Feral's fur. The cat-bear turned on his motor in hopes that it would soothe her. He purred hard, while he plotted revenge on the ranger. If his mistress wouldn't let him hurt the nasty two-leg, then he'd find another way to get him. The moment that bastard took his boots off, he was going to leave him a big, steaming surprise in both of them.

**xxxxxxxxxx**

Their short journey was made in complete silence.

Quin knew something was up with his two companions. As much as they argued, they still always walked together. That was something that was constant about them. She always walked beside him, probably to challenge his lead, and they'd get into little tiffs about pointless things, things that normal people wouldn't usually argue about. It was their thing and something Quin had gotten used to over their travels, but Jaelyn wasn't walking beside Bishop. In fact, there was an enormous berth between them. He walked on ahead, leading them and she walked far in the back, behind the natives.

The halfling made glances over his shoulder every now and then, wondering if she was going to catch up with them, but she just seemed distant and a little sad. She walked with her head down, which was not like her at all. Usually, she had her eyes on her surroundings.

Quin had noticed that she was acting strange just before they set out, like something was bothering her. But when he asked, she said it was nothing. He had thought nothing of it at the time, but now it was obvious that something was wrong.

He could take a wild guess and say the ranger was the cause of her distress and he knew he'd be right. That man was always the cause of her distress. Quin didn't understand why she wouldn't just give up. Could she not see that he was only damaging her? And Bishop didn't even care. He hadn't made one glance at her since they left camp, and he was always looking at her, studying her. It was obvious that he was making an extra effort to avoid her. He wasn't his normal, charming self, either. He usually had a degree of patience, or at the very least, he knew when patience was needed, but today was a different day. Patience was thrown aside to make room for a short-temper. He wasn't taking crap from anyone. Although Quin's antics sometimes got a dry smirk from the ranger or at least an eye roll, today they simply annoyed the hells out of him and it only took one of his murderous glares to set the halfling straight. More unusual was the fact that he said nothing at all. Threats often accompanied one of those look. Not this time. And Quin could safely say that words weren't needed. The expression spoke for itself.

So, now Quin was left wondering what in the hells had happened that had them both silent and avoiding one another as if they thought the other was infected with the plague.

It had to have happened just after he had spoken with Bishop that morning, because, although the ranger had awoken in a bad mood, he hadn't been in a temper. He had only started acting really foul after Jaelyn had awoken. Quin had been too busy with Baeylene to have noticed anything and everyone else had been asleep.

Quin considered asking Jaelyn what was wrong again.

He glanced once more over his shoulder and she was still behind, head down, seeming far away from reality and a bit gloomy.

He slowed his pace to join her, but Jaelyn didn't bother looking at him when he started walking beside her.

She was in her own little world, trying not to think about what had occurred this morning and of the possibility that she might have ruined everything. She carried Baeylene close and protectively.

Feral kept pace on her other side, sniffing the ground and keeping extra attention to the environment for his mistress since she had chosen not to be a part of it.

"Are you sure you're all right?" Quin asked. "You're awfully quiet and you're not up there trying to usurp Bishop's lead."

"I'm fine." she replied, her voice monotone.

Quin frowned. "No, you're not. I know when you're upset. You get quiet and go into your own world. What's gotten you like this? Did he say something to upset you?"

She didn't have to ask whom Quin meant by 'he', and Quin didn't miss her reaction; the flash of hurt, the shimmer in her eyes.

He laid a hand on her arm and they both paused in their steps.

Quin's worried expression touched Jaelyn and she tried her best to assure him that she was okay.

"It's nothing."

"No, it isn't. Not if you're acting like this." he said, looking up at her.

And that was when he noticed it, the mark on her neck. It was an elongated mark that was darker than her skin tone. It was a bruise.

He frowned and pointed at it. "What happened to your neck?"

Jaelyn quickly put her hand over the place Quin had indicated. She forced a smile and a small laugh that was about as believable as a moral Luskanite.

"It's nothing. I-"

"Don't do that." Quin cut her off. "You know that's not going to work on me, so just tell me the truth."

Quin already had an idea where this was going to lead to and he didn't like it one bit. He could feel his anger starting to well up.

At her silence and her look of regret, the halfling exploded.

"Did he do that?"

She avoided his eyes. That was all the answer Quin needed.

"Gods!" he growled, fiercely. "That...that...evil, wretched, son of a..."

He burst into a chain of insults and swears, each one worse than the last and his small hands curled into fists. There was an absolute look of fury on his face that Jaelyn had never seen there before.

There was a violent _shing_ as Quin yanked his rapier from its sheath. "He's gone too far this time and he's going to pay! So, he likes trying to choke women, huh? Well, let's see how much he likes to have his hands cut off!"

Quin stormed off toward the group, who had gained a ways ahead of them, but Jaelyn jumped after him and grabbed him by his shoulder with her free hand while she juggled the baby with the other.

"Don't, Quin."

"Why in the hells not?"

She didn't want to answer that. There was a part of her that knew Bishop had what was coming to him, but another part of her couldn't really blame him for his reaction. Lashing out was what he did, it was all he knew. He could've done much worse. And she had provoked him. She had known there was a high chance that he would get violent if she pushed him too far, but she did it anyway. But then that sounded like she was just making excuses for him. She couldn't be foolish when it came to him. There were moments when he was as calm as a spring breeze, but if you rubbed him the wrong way, he could turn as violent as a summer storm. He was capable of anything. She had to realize that.

She had made a reckless mistake. She had pushed him into acknowledging that there could be something more and that he feared it. Now he was going to make it his first priority to show her how wrong she was; first, by proving he didn't care about her, which he'd done a fine job of by threatening to kill her.

But again, what he thought he was doing was disproving it all, when in fact, his reaction was confirming everything.

Jaelyn sighed miserably. "I love you, Quin, but if you attack him, he's going to kill you. You know that, right?"

"How can you say that? I can handle that bastard, no problem!"

"Leave it be."

"Why? Why are you letting him get away with it?"

"I'm not. He'll pay for it, make no mistake."

Quin huffed and sheathed his rapier with a snap. "Fine. But I hope you aren't just trying to protect him from me, and I hope you realize now that he's not worth it."

She said nothing; she didn't need to. She had made her point about not giving up on people.

Quin stood there for a moment, expecting something, but he didn't get it. So, with a deep sigh, he set off after the others. Jaelyn followed.

**xxxxxxxxxx**

The troop's journey lasted a little under six miles when the ranger finally halted them, much to everyone's questioning.

"We rest here." he said to no one in particular while giving his surroundings a scrupulous once-over.

The natives looked upon each other in confusion and the dead silence was almost deafening. Obviously, they hadn't understood him.

Bishop glanced around with a scowl, wondering why they were still standing there, staring at him and then it hit him.

With an irritated sigh, he looked pointedly at Jaelyn with an incensed expression.

"Translate, drow." he growled. "We're stopping here for now."

She had the tenacity to question that decision.

"Why? None of us are tired. We could keep-"

"Because I said so, that's why!" he snapped.

Jaelyn didn't want to argue.

"Fine."

She turned to the natives and told them that they would be staying there for right now.

"Why?" was Akereth's expected inquiry. "It's not wise to linger out here this close to the drow. A large group is definitely not going to go unnoticed if they should happen by. Surely, your..._friend_ knows this."

Jaelyn put a hand out helplessly. "I don't know what to tell you. He wants to stop, so it's best just to do what he says. Better not to anger him. You'd have a better chance of surviving the drow than you would him while he's in a temper."

"He did sound rather cross with you a moment ago. Was there a falling out?" Akereth teased, though there was a hopeful glimmer in his eyes.

Jaelyn failed to find any humor in his response.

"We're not on friendly terms at the moment."

"Oh?" He was smiling. "What a shame."

Jaelyn frowned at him. "Wipe that smile off your face. This isn't funny."

"You're right, of course. For you, it's not funny, but for me, it's very amusing."

He laughed and Jaelyn felt the corners of her mouth twitch upward. It really wasn't funny at all, but Akereth had a contagious smile and his laugh, even at her expense, lightened her mood somewhat.

She reached out and playfully hit him in the arm, while jugging Baeylene with the other. "Jerk."

Akereth retained his smile. "Is that why you've been in such a somber mood today?"

She merely shrugged.

He reached out, took her hand and began pulling her toward him. "Perhaps a little dance might cheer you up?"

Jaelyn laughed lightly and pushed away from him. "Oh, no. Once was enough for me. Never again. Besides, I might drop her." She bounced the baby gently for emphasis.

He drew closer. "Then perhaps we should do what we never got a chance to do that night."

His hand brushed her hair away from her shoulder, but he paused, a frown contorting his face. Jaelyn knew what had put that look there.

Akereth's thumb brushed lightly over the mark on her neck.

She was going to have to do something about that damn thing. It was obviously noticeable.

"What caused this?" he asked, looking her in the eyes, which could never lie, no matter how much she wished they could.

"It's nothing." she said hastily. "I just got slapped by a branch earlier, that's all."

But Akereth wasn't stupid. She'd been in the back of the group all day long, so chances were Akereth would've came across that branch first. Besides, he could put two and two together. It was no coincidence that she sported a bruise out of no where and at the same time was no longer on good terms with her companion, who was known for having a short temper and violent tendencies.

He looked down at her and she tried to avoid his gaze. Akereth wasn't having it. He took her beneath the chin and lifted her head up to peer into her eyes with a heated look.

"Did he put that mark on you?"

Her eyes darted away from his and she remained silent. It only proved to confirm his question. She needed to learn to lie quicker.

A savage rage filled him. Jaelyn noted the change in his body language, how he seemed to go completely rigid. When she looked up, his dark blue eyes were lit with that ferocity from the inside out. They were electrified. For a moment, those eyes remained on her and then they flicked over to the ranger. There was horrid intent in that gaze and Jaelyn knew without a doubt that something bad was about to happen.

She reached out quick to take Akereth's arm, to stop him from doing something stupid, but she wasn't quick enough.

The native barreled on the ranger with surprising speed.

Bishop only had a split second to wonder what the noise behind him was. He got half way turned around and then suddenly found himself on the ground with an angry native on top of him.

Akereth didn't give him time to recover from the surprise attack.

With a face contorted in lunatic rage, he grabbed a fist full of leather, lifted the stunned man up slightly by it and then slammed a fist into his face with all the force he could muster. It was quite impressive. The blow made enthusiastic little bright spots explode across Bishop's vision and made his ears ring as hard as temple bells, all of which only furthered his incapacitation. Blood ran down from the brand new welt high up on his cheek. But Akereth wasn't done with him yet. Akereth didn't plan to be through with him for a while, in fact. His rage and jealousy toward the ranger wouldn't allow him to stop until the man was nothing but bloody pulp. He wanted to tear into him; he wanted to kill him. It wasn't just the fact that this man had physically harmed Jaelyn that enraged him so. It was the fact that he knew she would keep pursuing the bastard even after what he'd done. It was a maddening feeling, knowing that he would never do anything to hurt her and yet she continued to reject him, and this man could hurt her as much as he wanted and she would still do almost anything to win him over. Akereth hated him. He hated the fact that this idiot man had a chance with her, but for whatever reason, he refused her and treated her this way.

Everyone in the vicinity watched the spectacle from a safe distance. Quin was smirking, enjoying every blow the native landed on Bishop. It was strangely therapeutic watching the bastard get beat up by someone half his size. Even Feral, sitting beside the halfling, seemed to be enjoying it. He was grinning and purring delightfully.

The only person that wasn't enjoying it was Jaelyn, who had a look of utmost horror and shock on her face. She couldn't believe there was this much anger and violence in Akereth. What's more, she couldn't believe he was winning. She had expected some kind of retaliation on Bishop's part, but he seemed to have been really stunned. There was undoubtedly extreme power behind Akereth's attacks, because the ranger was too dazed to even fight back, and that was something the drow had never expected to see.

And that was when she was overcome by an alarming feeling, an undeniable need to protect. Bishop may have hurt her, but, despite it, this feeling was telling her that she didn't want to see him hurt and she had no intention of letting this continue.

She handed Baeylene off to Quin and advanced toward the struggling men.

"Akereth, that's enough!" she demanded in drow, her tone stern and angry.

Akereth's fist paused in the midst of coming down on Bishop, but only for a second. When it started descending again, Jaelyn was on him in a heartbeat.

She shoved him away from the ranger, succumbing to her own fury.

"Get off of him!"

Akereth fell back, looking up at her with a mix of confusion and anger.

Jaelyn stood protectively over her companion, while glaring hotly down at the native, her fists curling at her sides, which told Akereth that if he dared to attack again, she was going to meet that attack.

On the ground, still dazed, Bishop tried to collect enough brain cells together to get a message of mobility sent to the rest of his body. There was a single, passionate, and hostile thought screaming through his mind. When he could get up, that son of a bitch native was as good as dead.

His head and face was throbbing. He knew he'd only been hit a couple of times by the man, but it felt like someone had bashed him in the face with a sledge hammer. How was it possible that so much strength lay behind so small a frame?

Meanwhile, Akereth glowered up at Jaelyn as he swiftly regained his footing.

"After what he did to you, you're going standing there and defend him?"

"Yes!" she shouted. "Beating up on each other isn't going to solve anything."

"Is that all it is?" Akereth snapped. "Or do you protect him for another reason? Why don't you just admit it?"

"Admit what?" she scoffed.

"That no other man is ever going to have a chance with you...because you love _him_!"

"I don't love him." she replied, and she was startled to find uncertainty in her voice.

Her gut and heart tightened. She swallowed hard.

Akereth shook his head in a mix of disappointment and sadness. "If that were true, you wouldn't try so hard for him. I will never understand what you see in him."

"No, you won't." she said snappishly. "What I see is something that no one else even bothers to look for in him."

She turned away from Akereth and knelt down next to Bishop, who was slowly sitting up, setting a furious look on the native.

Akereth sent the look right back.

"You're dead." Bishop said with a lethal, imminent tone.

Akereth sneered at him and walked off to join the others.

Jaelyn looked over the bleeding welt on the ranger's face and cringed a little at the sight of it. It was an angry-looking wound. She rummaged through the little pack on her belt for a potion, but his harsh, cold voice made her stop.

"Don't even bother. Just get away from me."

She looked up at him, hurt.

"Stop being this way. All I want to do is help."

He didn't understand her. After what he'd done to her, why in the hells would she want to help him? Why in the hells had she defended him against the native? Why in the hells wouldn't she just give up?

"Yeah?" he replied, bitterly, after a moment. "Well, I don't want your damn help. So, push off."

Jaelyn sighed heavily with sadness, but she wouldn't give up, much to his distress.

She pulled the potion out of her small pack and grabbed his hand. He tried to jerk back, but she held on. Her thumb brushed over the back of his hand in a gentle, caring manner that caused him to squirm. She smiled and then pressed the potion into his palm, closing his fingers around it.

"I really want us to be friends. It doesn't have to be anything else."

With that, she stood up and left him to himself.

Bishop looked at the little vial with a scowl, understanding that it was supposed to be some kind of token of friendship, or something equally worthless and irritating.

He never used it. But he never threw it away, either.

**xxxxxxxxxx**

Bishop paced a good distance away from everyone else in an effort to cool off his anger. He was still pissed about being attacked by the native and he was left with a persistent desire to kill that refused to be tamed.

That was the drow's doing. She wouldn't let him get anywhere near the native and he'd tried numerous times. She was the reason he was wearing tracks into the dirt, trying to temper his rage.

He tried to keep his mind off of it, but his still throbbing face was a constant reminder, and he just wanted to hit something.

The others sat around, patiently. They seemed in no hurry to get going, although a few of them kept glancing around at the forest. They were a bit exposed, so it would've been a good idea to get moving, or at the very least to get out of sight.

Akereth was among them, still furious with everything. A few of his fellow natives tried to console him, but failed. Akereth kept eying Bishop hatefully; the desire to use him as a punching bag was still very present inside him. He made an internal vow that he was going to finish the job just as soon as he got the bastard alone. He, of course, had no idea that Bishop was planning the same thing. When that time came, one of them was going to die by the hand of the other.

Across from where the natives were huddled together sat Quin with Baeylene in his arms and Jaelyn and her animal companion, who was sitting beside her, cleaning himself out of boredom. They were taking up the space between the ranger and the natives.

"What're we waiting for?"Quin whispered to Jaelyn.

"At the moment, we're waiting for him to cool off." she replied, nodding at Bishop. "But we've stopped for a reason, I think. According to your map, we should be only about ten miles from the cave. If it were me, I'd have you and the natives stay here while he and I scout ahead."

"Why should I have to stay behind?" groused the halfling. "I could scout the way just as well as either of you can."

Jaelyn looked at him, firmly. "Can you? No offense meant, my friend, but you aren't exactly quiet."

"What's that supposed to mean!"

She smiled. "See? Besides, someone has to stay behind and keep an eye on the natives. If any drow happen to come by, someone is going to have to defend them."

Quin sighed. "Well, since you put it that way."

A large grin suddenly stretched his face. "Although, I think with Akereth with them, they may not have a problem. I've got to say, I wasn't expecting that kind of fighting from one of them. He was pretty savage. I wonder where he learned to do that."

She shook her head. "I don't think he ever learned that. It just came out of him; he was driven by rage. I've never seen anyone look that angry before. He was going to kill him."

Quin looked up at her again. "What got him so wound up all of a sudden?"

The drow sighed and pointed to her neck. "He saw that and I didn't lie quick enough."

The halfling laughed. "Damn, he's got it bad for you if he just up and attacks Bishop without warning, or thinking of the consequences. The ranger's armed, for crying out loud. Akereth is lucky he came away with his life."

"Is he? I think Bishop is the lucky one this time."

She looked thoughtfully over at Akereth, who sat between two of his fellow natives, glaring in the ranger's direction. He was breathing heavily and that spark of rage was still in his eyes. She saw that his fists, one of them stained in blood, were clenched tight.

"Akereth must have a lot of strength behind his attacks if he could stun Bishop to where he couldn't fight back." she mused. "That's a good thing. Whatever he felt in that moment, he needs to share it with his people. That strength is what they need when they fight the drow."

"You do know they were fighting over you, right?"

She brought her gaze around to him. "I know Akereth was. He thinks Bishop is some kind of rival, but that's not it at all. Bishop doesn't care, so Akereth has no reason to fight him."

"Doesn't he?" Quin replied. He knew the answer to his next question was pretty obvious given the events of today, but he asked it anyway, just to see how she would respond. "Let's suppose they are both facing death, but you can only save one of them. Who do you choose to save?"

He watched her closely. He was surprised to find a defiant look on her face.

"I could never sentence one of them to death."

"Then you'd sentence them both to it?"

"No, I would try to save them both."

"But that wasn't the question." Quin replied.

"I don't care. That's my answer."

Quin smirked and shook his head. "No, it isn't. I think we both know who you would choose to save. You proved your choice moments ago."

"That fight was unfair." Jaelyn said, angrily. "Akereth attacked him from behind, and...and..."

"And you defended the very man that tried to choke you, that put that mark on you." the halfling replied. "You're not stupid, Jae. And I know there is a part of you that knows he deserved what Akereth did to him. But there was another force in you that made you protect him. Stop fooling around with this native. You need to stop giving him false hope, and tell him the truth, or you're going to get him killed."

She shook her head. "Truth?"

The halfling gave her a stern expression. "Jaelyn...the truth. Tell him you've made your choice."

She knew he was right. She had made her choice a long time ago; she had made it the moment she decided to never give up on him. What she was doing to Akereth was wrong, and Quin was right in saying that it was going to get him killed. Bishop had already threatened to kill him. If she wanted to avoid having the native's blood on her hands, then she had to tell him that there was never going to be anything between them. She liked him in a friendly manner, but that was as far as it went. He didn't deserve to be lead about just because she was confused about her feelings for someone else, when she knew exactly how she felt about Akereth.

"You're right." she said at last. "I'll talk to him."

Quin inclined his head with a smile. "Good, glad to hear it. The sooner, the..."

He trailed off, his eyes staring over her shoulder. "Uh, oh."

"What?" Jaelyn asked and then glanced over to see Bishop on a hostile path toward Akereth again.

He had been waiting for the moment when she wasn't paying attention and that was when he caught her in a conversation with the halfling, so he took his chance. This time his sword was drawn.

The native arose from his spot, glaring hard, prepared to meet the attack despite the fact that he was unarmed.

"Not again." the drow complained and scrambled to her feet.

The ranger looked back to see her coming, so he broke out into a sprint. He should've known better. If there was any among them that was a good runner, it was Jaelyn. She'd spent a good deal of her life running.

"I told you no!" she cried, gaining on him.

When she was close enough, she dived on him, and they went flailing to the ground. He lost his grip on his sword and she landed on him awkwardly, a knee going into his back, which forced the air out of his lungs.

There was silence.

Jaelyn looked around to find everyone staring at them with unblinking eyes and gaping mouths.

"Arrggg..." said Bishop, his voice muffled by the ground.

His hand blindly sought his weapon. Jaelyn reached out, smacked that hand away and grabbed the sword before he could reach it. She then positioned herself so that she was sitting on his back with every bit of her weight pressing down on him.

"Get off of me." came the vicious growl she expected.

She smirked, held his sword up to eye level and looked it over.

"I will. When you decide to start acting civil."

"Fuck you." he spat.

She laughed and slapped him lightly on the back of the head. "That's not civil, Bishop."

He attempted to lift himself up even with her on top of him, but she moved quick, sticking the tip of his sword into the back of his neck, not hard enough to draw blood, but firm enough to send a message.

"All you have to do is agree that you won't hurt Akereth and I'll let you up."

"And like I said before, fuck you!"

She sighed. "He's not worth it, Bishop."

"Yeah? Then why are you bothering to try and stop me from killing him?"

"I'm not doing it for him."

Well, now he was just really confused.

"Eh?"

"I'm doing it for me. If you kill him, it'll be my fault. I don't want his blood on my hands. If that's selfish, fine, I don't care, but you are not going to kill him. Understand?"

"No one tells me what to do! I'll kill whoever I want. Get in my way and you'll be next."

"Ah, I see. So, you're enjoying your face in the dirt, then? Well, that's good, because it looks like it's going to be there for a while."

"You're going to be sorry for this."

"You could easily save yourself the trouble, but no, you have to make everything difficult. Do you know how much time this is wasting?"

"You're the one sitting on me and you're the one keeping me from doing what needs to be done."

"This doesn't need to be done." she said. "He was a coward for attacking you like that. He's not worth it. Just let it go."

"No."

"Please?"

"_No_."

He was still angry. That anger would only be sated when that bastard was lying dead in a puddle of his own blood. But she was angry now herself, angry with his stubbornness.

"Fine." she spat, understanding that there was only one option left here and it was going to be a gamble.

She removed herself from his person, stood up and tossed his sword on the ground beside him. She stared defiantly at him as he got to his feet, lifting his weapon with him. He matched her look. She moved quick to stand before Akereth, who looked between the two in confusion.

"You want to kill him? Fine." she said. "But you're going through me first."

Bishop shrugged, uncaring. "So be it."

He expected her to move at this point, but she didn't. She stood firmly in her place as if she'd taken root there. Her arms were crossed over her chest and she stared straight into his eyes, tried to stare him down.

This was what was maddening him, this defiance, this fearlessness toward him. He admired it as much as he hated it. It deepened his desire for the drow. Every time she stood up to him, every time she sparred insults with him, every time she gave him this defiant look, he found himself craving her even more. The need was becoming overwhelming, and he feared one day, he might just surrender to it, to that terrible temptation to fall.

He fought off the urge to smile at her, at this foolish drow, and retained his harsh, severe expression.

"Get out of my way, drow. I'm only going to tell you once, so, if you want to live to see another day, move."

He already knew she wasn't going to.

"No." she replied haughtily.

The point of his blade came up to her chin. She didn't flinch or look away.

Gods, he'd already tried choking her, so she knew what he was capable of. Why wasn't she afraid?

And that was exactly what he said. He couldn't help it; it was bothering him, he had to know.

"You know what I'm capable of. Why aren't you afraid? Are you that damn stupid?"

Jaelyn never hesitated to answer him.

"No. I just know you're capable of something else, of doing the right thing."

Her words drove into him harshly, leaving behind a bitter sting. Here was someone who believed there was some good in him when he knew it was too late for that. She was a fool to think it and a fool to waste her efforts on him. And he would prove it all here, no matter how much it would hurt her in the end. Let her see what he really was, let her see that any good in him had died a long time ago.

But he didn't know how he was about to prove himself wrong with one gesture.

He gave her a dark, foreboding look.

"You're wrong."

He shoved her away, when he could've just as easily gone through her. Something made him remove her from his path, something that didn't want to hurt her.

Jaelyn staggered, lost her balance and fell over. She quickly rolled over to see Bishop lifting his sword to drive it into Akereth, who had nothing to defend himself with. There was a look of terror on the native's face as he realized his fate closing in.

Jaelyn panicked, grabbed the nearest object at hand and threw it at Bishop.

Unfortunately, that object just so happened to be a rock and her aim was a little too perfect. The rock smacked him in the head and did a fine job of knocking him out. He hit the ground gracelessly.

Jaelyn let out a sigh and got to her feet.

Some of the natives made a few cautious steps toward the unconscious man, peering down at him curiously.

Jaelyn did the same. She cringed at the sight of the gash the rock had left behind on the left side of his head. Today just wasn't his day. He'd gotten beat up by someone who had no skill at fighting and now he'd gotten hit with a rock.

"That was a good hit." Akereth said from beside her.

She glared at him. "If you hadn't attacked him, none of this would've happened. Just stay away from him, all right?"

The native put his hands up in surrender, but said nothing.

Jaelyn looked back down at the unmoving ranger.

This was bad. This was really bad. She thought he'd been pissed before, but now he was really going to be angry. She almost hoped that rock would cause temporary amnesia. At the very least, she could act like she had no idea what he was talking about when he accused her of hitting him.

_'Rock? What, rock?' Yeah, that's what I'll say._

She bent, picked up the evidence and hurled it far out into the woods. Now she just had to wait until he woke up and hope he didn't kill everyone the moment his eyes opened.


	25. Chapter 25: Captured

**xxxxxx**

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-Five:**

**Captured**

**xxxxxx**

**Golden** eyes wrenched open and squinted upon the bright shafts of sunlight that speared down through the choked limbs of the forest.

Brain cells tried to collect themselves and failed. Pain wasn't allowing any thoughts, not until it had its fill of torturing the man it currently resided in.

Those eyes closed again and the man they belonged to let out a groan. The whole left side of his head was throbbing with its own angry pulse and he was almost certain his head would explode. The pain was worse than a hangover. He would've given a boat load of gold not be conscious right now.

A single thought formed and made it passed the pain.

_What in the hells happened?_

He could hear voices nearby and he recognized them without much effort as the drow and the halfling. They were yammering about him. The halfling wanted to wake him up, time was wasting and the drow thought it would be better to just let him rest for a while, her kind weren't going anywhere. Her voice sounded guilty for some reason.

He opened his eyes again, regretfully and attempted to sit up. Vertigo slammed into him and he bowed his head to fight it off.

"Urrgg..."

Two shadows fell over him.

"Well, look who's up!" the halfling said, loudly and cheerfully.

His voice was like an axe through the brain causing the ranger to wince. His his hand shot out, grabbed the front of Quin's leather armor and yanked him down to his eye level.

"Stop yelling." he said in a slow, vicious tone.

"All right, all right," Quin replied, holding his hands up. "No need getting violent about it."

Bishop let him go and lifted his hand to the side of his head where there was a nasty bump and a small gash. The wound had stopped bleeding, but the hair there was still damp with blood.

His brain cells made a courageous effort to regroup again, and were successful this time. He remembered he was about to attack the native when something or someone hit him.

He looked up between the drow and the halfling with a heated, accusatory expression.

"All right, who in the Nine Hells hit me?"

There was a moment of silence as attentions were drawn to boots. Then the halfling whistled innocently as he clasped his hands behind his back and rocked back and forth on his feet.

The ranger's face hardened into a stony look. "I said, who-"

"It was a branch!" Jaelyn insisted forcefully and with a grin that nearly overtook her face.

Quin's head swiveled around to her, his eyes wide in disbelief. She nudged him with her elbow.

"Oh!" he blurted, looking back at Bishop with as much innocence as possible. "Yeah, a branch. Guess you were in striking distance of an angry tree."

Of course, Bishop wasn't buying it. The drow never grinned that big and the halfling already had an innocent face, so he could easily tell when Quin was trying to force an innocent look.

"I'm only going to ask once more." he warned and then spoke more slowly, just in case they weren't getting it. "Who in the hells hit me?"

Jaelyn crossed her arms, stubbornly. "I already told you, it was a branch. It really was. You know how violent these trees are."

"Do I look stupid to you?" he snapped.

"Do you really want me to answer that?"

"All right, that does it." he said, fed up, as he got to his feet and tried to ignore his spinning head. "If I don't start getting answers, I'm going to start stabbing people."

"Now, wait a minute, you're being-" Quin began but was cut off by something sharp sticking him in the neck.

"And I'll start with him." the ranger said, his sword out in a flash and pointed at the halfling.

It seemed like it was coming out of its sheath one moment and then just decided to skip the whole journey to Quin's neck. It was just there. They blinked and missed it.

Jaelyn sighed, her arms flopping down to her sides.

"All right, fine. It was me; I hit you."

He glared at her. "Yeah? Well, I'm just going to have to get you back for that, then."

"It was only fair." she said, darkly.

He looked incredulous. "Fair? How in hells do you figure that?"

"You could've let the whole thing go." she said. "Besides, you put a mark on me; it was only fair that I put one on you."

"I didn't want to let it go; that bastard had it coming. No one attacks me and gets away with it. And what do you mean, I put a mark on you? I didn't put any mark on you."

She stepped up to him, angrily and yanked her hair back. She pointed to the bruise on her neck. "What do you call this, then?"

He was a bit surprised to see something there. At the time when he had his hands around her neck, he was angry, admittedly, but he was mostly trying to scare her. He didn't know he had actually left behind a bruise.

What did it matter? So what?

He looked away from it, trying to ignore the slight culpable pang in his gut.

"It's just a bruise, drow. You drew my blood."

"And I'll draw more of it if you ever do something like that again." she shot back, angrily, jabbing him in the chest with a finger.

He was almost tempted to laugh at her. She was cute when she was angry.

"Sounds to me like you're more upset about that bruise than with me trying to kill your friend." he pointed out. "Grew bored with him, eh? I could've told you that was going to happen."

"How dare you!"

This time he did laugh, out of sheer amusement. "Didn't miss, though, did I?"

Jaelyn looked ready to explode. Her face was contorted into an outraged expression and her hands were clenched tight at her sides.

"You're way off!" she shouted. "As it so happens, I like Akereth!"

He nodded and rolled his eyes. "Sure you do."

Her eyes flamed with her anger. "I do! In fact, I like him a lot. I may even sleep with him."

Bishop snorted. "Is that an attempt to try and make me jealous? Don't waste your time. I could care less about you."

"And I could care less about you!" Jaelyn retorted. "Jerk!"

She stomped off.

Quin watched her and then slowly shook his head with an exasperated sigh. "Won't you two ever stop?"

The ranger shrugged. "She started it. Don't think I'm not going to be the one that finishes it."

"She didn't start it." Quin replied. "You did when you put your hands around her neck. No matter how hard she pushed you, she didn't deserve that."

"Just be thankful that was all I did. I could've done much worse."

The halfing nodded. "I don't have any doubt there. So, why didn't you?"

"I was making a point; I'm sick and tired of her pushing."

"You want her to give up." It was not a question. "On you."

"So, what?" he spat, angrily.

Quin shrugged and gave him a dark look. "She won't. I've already told her you're not worth the effort, but she won't listen. She doesn't believe in giving up on people. Or maybe she just doesn't believe in giving up on you, specifically. "

The halfling had a thoughtful look on his child-like face and then he nodded to himself. "Yeah, I think that's what it is."

"Then she's going to be sorry."

"Yeah, I don't have any doubt about that, either." Quin's thoughtful expression turned dark. "Here's an idea: since you're so intent on being the cold-hearted bastard we both know you are, why don't you just stay away from her?"

Bishop sent a glare his way. "And if I don't?"

"Then you're going to be the one that's sorry." Quin said with a sneer that was quite uncharacteristic of him. "Don't let my stature fool you; I could kick your ass twelve different ways. I'll even be kind enough to let you pick which one."

Bishop laughed. He couldn't help it. The halfling's moxie was amusing.

"You're out of your insignificant little mind, half-man." he said, grinning darkly. "You may know twelve different ways to kick someone's ass, but I know a hundred different ways to kill someone. Are you sure you want to be making threats?"

Quin stepped close to the significantly taller man, glaring up at him. "When are you going to get it that no one is afraid of you?"

"I wouldn't expect fools to know fear." he replied. "That's why they're the ones that go first."

"Says the man who claims to be afraid of nothing." Quin shot back. "So, you're calling yourself a fool, then?"

"All right, that's enough." said Jaelyn a few feet away from them, a deep frown on her face and her bow in one hand. It was obvious that she was still angry, but they had more important matters to attend to. "We don't have time for this childish bickering. Look at the sky. We've wasted over an hour!"

Both males looked up and noticed that, yes, a little over an hour had passed since they'd stopped. Quin nodded to Jaelyn.

"You're right. Let's get down to business, then." he said and then pulled his gaze over and up at the ranger. "You're the one that stopped us here. Do you mind telling us why exactly?"

"Because, if that map of yours is accurate, we should be about ten miles from the cave." replied Bishop with ice in his voice. "We need to know what we're up against there, if anything. Going as a group is too risky, so-"

"So we leave the natives here and scout ahead." Jaelyn butted in. "Yeah, that's what I thought you were going to do."

"Good," he said, not bothering to hide his irritation with her. "Then let's go."

She nodded, curtly and turned to Quin as Bishop made his way out into the forest. "Stay here with the natives. I expect we'll be gone a while."

"Right. Be careful, Jae."

She smiled and touched his shoulder as she set off after the ranger, her animal companion following close at her side.

**xxxxxxxxxx**

They traveled a good ways in silence, keeping their attention on their environment, watching for possible drow hidden in trees or any where else around them.

The island itself was eerily quiet. There wasn't much of a breeze, so there was no rustling of the wind in the trees, and there was no roar of the ocean here. No birds sang because, for some reason still unknown to them, there were no birds, not even seagulls. The place was deceptively peaceful. It might have been a utopia if they didn't know drow were lurking about somewhere.

Their journey brought them to a small creek where they had their first glimpse of a creature that wasn't a rabbit, a pheasant-turkey thing, or a cat-bear. It was a lone stag standing on the bank, drinking the water and appearing majestic against the lush forest background.

The two rangers paused for a moment and exchanged a quick glance before looking back at the scene.

While Jaelyn enjoyed watching the graceful animal refresh itself at the creek with Feral crowded around her feet, Bishop silently lamented the timing of coming across it. What he would've given to have found the damn thing later on toward night, when he would've had time to kill it and roast it. His stomach grumbled in despair.

Moments later, they continued on, departing the scene as quietly as they had arrived. The stag never knew they were there.

The rest of the journey was uneventful until they were within two miles of the cave, where they came upon a small clearing. In the midst of the clearing was a tiny camp, set up with a make-shift tent and a barren fire pit with a spit set up over it. Two male drow stood beside it, engaged in conversation. They were both heavily armed, one with a pair of swords and the other with a mean-looking falchion and a longbow slung over one shoulder.

Both rangers crouched behind the trunk of a nearby tree, using it and the foliage around it as camouflage as they studied the enemy. Feral kept low to the ground between them and produced a small, but no less menacing growl. Jaelyn put a hand on the scruff of his neck to calm him, lest his growling alert the drow to their presence.

After a moment of scrutiny, Bishop brought his gaze around and leaned toward Jaelyn a bit.

"This camp was set up for only two." he whispered.

Jaelyn nodded her agreement. There was only the one tent, and upon keener inspection of the camp, there were only two bundles of belongings. She had a pretty good idea of what he wanted to do next, but she asked anyway.

"So, how are we going to go about this?"

"Simple," he replied, getting down to business. He had already been thinking about it. "That is, if your bow skill is reliable enough to pull it off."

She smiled. "Don't doubt my prowess, Bishop. You've already seen what I can do with my bow."

"Don't get cocky, girl. You're not that good." he lied.

"I beat you, didn't I?"

He sniffed indignantly. "I don't think so. We never finished that contest."

"No, we didn't. As I recall, you ran off the moment you started losing."

"I didn't run off, drow. I left 'cause I kept getting this inclination to gut you."

"And when have you ever worried about restraining your murderous desires?"

He grinned nastily. "Well, I didn't have much of a choice, did I? There were witnesses."

Jaelyn waved him off, dismissively. "Whatever you say. We don't have time to argue, so let's just stick to the matter at hand."

"Fine by me."

"Good, then get on with it."

With a cold look, he went on. "You take the northern part of the camp and I'll stay here on the southern part. Get your shot off on the one with the swords. When the other starts moving your way, that's when I'll come in and surprise him from behind."

She looked vaguely impressed.

"All right, sounds like a plan. Let's get to it."

Jaelyn moved but he caught her wrist. She looked back with inquiry in her features.

"And what ever you do, drow, don't miss."

She only nodded and he returned his gaze to the clearing.

Jaelyn remained there for a moment, studying him when she should've been heading off toward the northern side of the clearing. She shouldn't have been looking at him at all. Doing so was starting to make her want to do crazy things, like kiss him, and the last time they had kissed, things hadn't gone over so well. Still, the desire remained and she wondered briefly how he'd react if she just grabbed him and went for it.

She shook her head. It was a stupid idea. Now wasn't the time for such things and she doubted he'd appreciate it, especially after she'd tricked him the last time.

Jaelyn reached out tentatively, laying a hand on his shoulder. Just touching him created a stir in her.

When he glanced back with one of those looks that said 'this better be good', her hand tightened slightly on his shoulder and she offered a warm smile.

"Be careful."

His expression wasn't as friendly as hers; neither was his response. With a disdainful frown, he shrugged away from her.

"Just get going."

She wasn't surprised in the least by the reaction.

Without a word, she headed toward the northern side of the clearing, keeping hidden and not making so much as a rustle. Feral kept in stride behind her, looking back toward the human ranger curiously.

The feel of her hand on his shoulder remained with Bishop; the sensation did an impressive job of creeping into his brain. It proceeded to cause havoc with his thoughts when it was crucial that they be clear at the moment, and it also created an emotional disturbance.

_It was just a touch!_ he yelled internally. _Get it together._

He forced himself to focus on the two drow in the clearing as he waited for his drow to get into position and let her arrow fly.

_His_ drow...?

He drew his sword silently, grit his teeth in frustration and tried desperately to get her out of his head before he had to go in there.

This was why he needed to get laid, all this godsdamned frustration. Just one night with a woman; hells, any woman would do, and he knew the problem would be fixed. He wouldn't be having these thoughts or emotions anymore.

Yeah, that was it. When he got back to the village, he was going to find himself a willing native wench to roll around with for a night. That would take care of the problem. It had to. And he wouldn't have any trouble finding one, either. He'd noticed plenty of the women eying him. The language barrier wouldn't be a problem; he could easily make his intentions plain through action.

It was the cry of one of the drow that broke through his train of thought.

He saw the one with the swords arch forward to the ground and then he noted the shaft sticking out of the back of his head. The other was already taking cover behind the tent, withdrawing his own bow.

Bishop stood and advanced behind him as quietly as possible. Unfortunately, the drow sensed the movement behind him and swung around, loosing an arrow in the same move.

Had the ranger's reflexes not been good, that arrow would've went through his skull. As it was, the sharp tip grazed his cheek, leaving behind a shallow, bleeding line.

He barreled on the drow before he could fit another arrow to his bow.

Bishop's speed was startling. The drow's eyes widened in alarm and he threw down his bow, fumbling to draw his falchion, but it was too late.

Jaelyn and Feral made it around the tent just in time to see Bishop impale him, the tip of his sword exiting from the drow's back. The drow made a desperate wheezing noise and blood dribbled out of his mouth and down his chin. There was a flicker of hatred in his eyes as he stared at the ranger and then he slumped forward.

Bishop shoved him off his sword and the body hit the ground like a sack of bricks. Feral moved over to the body, sniffed it for a few moments and then began lapping at the blood.

Jaelyn had been frowning before, but now that frown turned into a look of disgust.

"I really wish he wouldn't do that."

The ranger said nothing as he strode past her and began searching around the camp for anything useful. Jaelyn joined him, stepping into the tent.

There were two bedrolls laid out on the ground, a deck of risque playing cards set up for a game that would never be, and not much else.

She stepped back out again and noticed Bishop removing the drow's swords, the ones he never got a chance to draw. Jaelyn moved to do the same with the other drow when she saw them, a whole lot of them, standing around the clearing.

Six armed drow surrounded them. Three had their crossbows aimed at them and the other three had their swords out and ready.

Jaelyn swallowed hard and Feral let out a growl. However, the cat-bear made no move to do anything. Even he knew when he didn't stand a chance, despite his volatile hatred of the drow.

"Uh...Bishop?"

"What do you wan-" he began irritably, not wanting to be bothered, but the question turned into something else when he finally saw them. "Shit."

She nodded, grimly in agreement. "Yeah, that pretty much sums it up."

One of the sword-wielding drow stepped forward, grinning and addressed them in the Common tongue.

"Put down your weapons, unless you have no real attachment to your lives."

Jaelyn didn't hesitate to put her bow down on the ground, but Bishop made no such move with his weapon. His hand tightened around the grip of his sword as he stared angrily and defiantly at the six drow.

The drow standing before the others smirked.

"Do you really wish to test their accuracy?" he said, waving a hand at the crossbowmen. "Put down your weapon; that's your last warning."

Jaelyn looked back at the ranger with a worried frown, wondering what it was he thought he was doing. They had no chance to win. Any offensive move would have them full of bolts in a heartbeat. He cared more about survival than anything else, so surely he wasn't stupid enough to think he could take them all on.

A moment that seemed like ages passed and a bitter, thwarted look came across the ranger's rough visage. He flung his sword forward and it landed with a thump a few feet in front of the leader of the drow party.

"Very good." the leader remarked. "Now, both of you get on your knees."

The rangers complied, one more reluctant than the other. Jaelyn knew there was no way out of this, but Bishop's mind was racing, trying to find a way.

It was Jaelyn, however, that had thought of something. It wasn't much, but it was their only hope.

Her gaze fell on the snarling cat-bear.

"Feral!" she shouted. "Run! Go!"

The cat-bear looked over at her, briefly, saw the meaningful intensity in her gaze and took off.

"Shoot it!" the leader commanded without pause. "Don't let it leave here alive!"

The crossbowmen aimed their weapons and sent bolts after the dark brown and beige stripped blur. Jaelyn held her breath, but she didn't need to. She forgot how fast the cat-bear was. Every shot missed her animal companion. Now she could only hope Feral could get Quin and the others to rescue them.

Growling in anger, the leader came forward at Jaelyn and backhanded her hard across the face. The strength behind the blow made bright spots appear on her vision. She winced; she couldn't help it, but she didn't make any sound of pain. It didn't matter. The appearance of it on her face was enough to satisfy the leader.

He was smirking.

"So, this is the mysterious female drow we've been hearing so much about." he said. "You've been causing us a lot of problems, you and your friends."

She glared up at him. "Good, then we've been doing our job properly. You think we're trouble now? Just wait."

He laughed wickedly in amusement. "Your days of causing us trouble have come to an end. Dresmor has demanded that you be dealt with if you were captured. Of course, " he bent down to her and touched her, the tips of his fingers on her cheek for a moment before they slid down her arched throat and then further over the small curves of her breasts. "There are ways you can convince me to keep you alive."

Jaelyn shuddered under the touch, revolted and angered by the violation.

She wasn't the only one getting angry.

"Savor it, drow." came the growl from her side. "She's the last woman you're ever going to touch."

He said it as if he were stating a fact.

The leader looked down at the ranger with an evil, knowing smile. "Oh, my touching her bothers you, does it? Interesting."

He looked back down at Jaelyn with a lewd glint in his eyes. "It's been a long time since I've been in the presence of a female drow, and never before one so powerless. I'll be sure to take advantage of this fact before I put you to death."

"You're not going to be alive that long." said Bishop, struggling to hold back the urge to tear him apart. "Not even that spider-loving whore you worship is going to save you from me."

The leader was expressionless, but the rage Bishop's blasphemous words put in the drow was apparent by the sudden red glow in his pink gaze, a drow trait. "For that, your blood will spill in the name of Lolth."

The ranger grinned, devilishly. "Lolth can kiss my ass, or better yet, she can suck my di-"

"Bishop!" Jaelyn exclaimed, her eyes wide in shock. Then she started laughing, unable to help herself. He was bold, her ranger was; bold and brave to utter such words.

Her laughter got her smacked again, harder than the last time. The leader's knuckles bit into her cheek and the whole right side of her face pulsed with pain. He then grabbed her roughly beneath the chin, wrenching her face around to him. "You find it amusing that he insults your goddess?"

Jaelyn sneered at him. "That bitch is no goddess of mine. I despise her and all who worship her."

This seemed to anger the leader further, who was unquestionably devout to Lolth. His grip slid down to her throat from her chin and tightened over her windpipe.

"You owe your pitiful existence to Lolth!" he spat. "You may only be half drow, but the blood still runs in your veins."

"It does, I won't deny it. I know who I am." she countered. "But the drow side of me is only skin deep. Because I forsake Lolth, I remain untainted by her corruption. She is the reason our kind is evil and hated."

A demonic, satisfied smile came over the drow and his eyes gleamed. "Dresmor simply wanted you dead and out of the way, but I think I have a better use for you. When I've had my fun with you, you will be sacrificed to Lolth. The death of a drow who has refused to worship Her will please our Spider Queen. The sacrifice of surface elves are highly prized as well and I hear such hated blood mixes with your drow blood. Lolth will be pleased with this as well and She will no doubt grant us power for such a sacrifice."

Jaelyn's heart filled with dread and fear.

The leader swung around to the nearest drow.

"Bind their hands and blindfold them."

**xxxxxxxxxx**

Despite being blindfolded, Jaelyn knew they were being taken to the cave. The direction of the light breeze hadn't changed, which meant that they were still moving east as she and the ranger had been doing.

There was no talking between any of them, but she felt a strong hand gripping her arm like a vise, guiding her along, and every time she stopped, someone prodded her roughly in the back to get her moving again.

Sometime later, she felt the shift in the environment. The air around her became compact, moist, and cooler and the soft ground turned rock hard beneath her feet. She could also hear an echoed, dripping sound that sounded far away, yet all around her at once. They were inside the cave.

She was led down a slope. They traversed a long corridor and began descending a set of stairs that seemed to last forever. Jaelyn memorized each step she took, every sound she heard, and ever smell that filled her nostrils. They were things that would help her and Bishop escape.

And speaking of the ranger, Jaelyn had not heard a single word from him since they'd left the clearing, which was not what she expected at all. She had thought he'd threaten and curse them the whole way, or at least try to escape. But no, there was nothing but silence from him, and she had to wonder if he was even still there with her or if the drow had done something to him. She thought about calling out his name, see if he'd answer, but she knew that would likely only get her smacked around more, or maybe it would get him smacked, and she didn't want that.

The steps finally ended and they traversed another long corridor. They rounded a corner, traveled a ways more and then began descending another set of stairs.

How deep was this cave?

It turned out to be three flights of stairs deep.

They finally came to their destination.

There was a sharp, creaking sound, like a door on rusty hinges and then she was being shoved forward harshly. She stumbled a bit but caught her balance. Someone grabbed her arm and drug her over a few paces until she felt her back against a cold wall. She then heard a thick rattling sound, like chains. Jaelyn soon found out that that was exactly what it was. She was yanked down by a rough hand until she was kneeling and then the leather strips that bound her hands together were removed and replaced by frigid metal.

Her blindfold was then removed.

Jaelyn's eyes focused immediately on the sneering drow kneeling in front of her. It wasn't the leader, but one of his followers.

He tested the manacles on her wrists and then did the same to the chain lead, which was attached to a large, rusted metal ring in the stone floor.

Satisfied that it was secure, the drow stood and exited the cell, slamming the large metal door behind him.

With a sigh, Jaelyn looked around.

The cell was all stone walls with no windows. A single torch was lit on the wall beside the metal door, providing the grim place with a dim glow of warm light. Jaelyn also noted that the chains were slack enough for her to move about the cell somewhat.

Well, at least she wasn't alone in that place.

Bishop shifted beside her, his chains rattling on the stone floor. He gave them an experimental tug to test his strength against that of the chains and then peered down at the metal ring with a frown. It may have all been rusted on the outside, but it was still solid on the inside.

"Are you all right?" Jaelyn asked.

"Perfect." he grumbled.

"Well, at least they put us in the same cell."

"There's that." he replied sarcastically.

"Hey, I'm just trying to look on the bright sid-"

"What fucking bright side?" he snapped. "We're drow prisoners, the last thing anyone ever wants to be...other than dead."

"How are we going to get out of here?"

"Hells if I know, but if I were you, I'd start trying to find a way. You know what they're planning on doing to you, right?"

She frowned sourly at him. "Yeah, I was there when the drow said it. They're going to sacrifice me to Lolth."

Bishop shook his head, grimly. "I don't mean that. I mean the 'fun' they plan to have with you before they sacrifice you."

Jaelyn gave him a stricken look as she realized what he meant. She gripped her chain lead and began yanking it hard against the metal ring in a sorry attempt to break it.

"We've got to get out of here."

She yanked at it again and again, her face filling with a fear he hadn't seen there in a while.

He thought warning her about what to expect would've been a good idea. He thought wrong. The grim reality only made her panic.

The chain lead gave her enough slack to stand up and move around a bit and so she got up and placed her feet against the metal ring to give herself leverage. She yanked with all her might, but it did nothing but dig the iron manacles into her wrists, drawing blood. But she didn't quit. Despite how impossible it seemed, she kept at it. She kept trying; she wasn't giving up, no matter how much it must've hurt to keep going.

It irritated him. It was exactly what she did for him; she simply wouldn't stop trying.

"Give up." he said, harshly, staring at her with a confusing mix of admiration and loathing in his gaze.

Jaelyn stopped a moment and looked at him in confusion. "Give up? Why? So they can win? So they can do...horrible things to me? Never! I'll die first."

She went back to yanking on her chains, while he shook his head at her. She didn't know what he was really saying, what he truly meant by his words. It was probably just as well. Now wasn't the time to discuss it. He needed to focus on finding a way out before their captors returned.

"I've never even..." she trailed off, her face contorting in despair. Tears glittered in her eyes as she realized what could be stolen from her here. "And they want to take that away from me, my...my innocence! I'll never..."

She trailed off ,wondering why she was even saying this stuff to him. Like he cared.

He looked at her. They weren't the only ones that wanted that innocence. It had become a strong desire in him to have it when he realized she'd never been with a man before. Of course, he wanted it to be willing. Bishop was many things, but a rapist wasn't one of them.

_You don't have time to be thinking like this. Concentrate._

He couldn't. That need to have her had become infused with something else now, something that made it all overwhelming. And now the threat of death was making it worse.

He leaned back against the wall and let his eyes roam over her. He never had cared much for her body. She had always seemed too frail and thin, like he could easily crush her, but he knew she was anything but. That lithe body was deceptive. She was strong and tough; he knew she could handle him, even if he hated to admit it. It made her more attractive than a full figured woman.

He opened his mouth to speak, but realized his throat had gone dry. He had to swallow to moisten it up.

"You _could_ always give it away." he suggested. "Then they can't take it away from you."

Jaelyn couldn't believe her ears. "Give it away? _Give it away_? Be willing with one of _them_? You're out of your mind!"

"I wasn't talking about them."

There was a meaningful look on his face and then he smiled. Jaelyn's face creased in irritation.

"What's wrong with you?" she shouted at him. "How can you be thinking about such things when we're in this situation? You're supposed to be thinking about escape."

He scoffed, disdainfully. "Prude."

Jaelyn looked at her chains for a moment and considered strangling him with them. Then she sat down beside him with her back to the wall, staring down at her bleeding wrists.

Things looked really bad. She could feel death looming over them. Their only hope was Quin and the natives, and though she trusted Quin to come through, he wouldn't be able to do it alone and the natives were incapable of fighting.

She sighed and tried not to think about death, which only made her think about the man next to her. She obviously didn't want to die, but she didn't want him to die even more.

She thought about that day they had first met in Port Llast, when she had stopped him from putting out Quin's eye with his dagger. She had thought about how fun it had been fighting him at the inn. She fondly remembered the look of horror on his face when he first saw Elegy, her draconic brother, or when he clumsily hurled Quin's golf club across the deck of the Seawolf when the halfling had been trying to teach them the game. She recalled their battle against the Luskan pirates, how in the midst of fighting, they had seemed the best of friends. It was one of the rarer moments when they got along splendidly. Yet, no matter how much they argued and kept at each other's throats, she appreciated his challenges and she enjoyed challenging him. They kept each other on their toes and their arguments rarely led to dire consequences. So, why couldn't they be friends?

She turned her head and looked at him.

"You know," she spoke, softly, drawing his gaze to her. "Despite everything, I'm not sorry I met you."

Jaelyn steeled herself for some harsh comment, some hateful response that would emotionally pull him as far away from her as possible.

"Oh?" he replied with an acidic bite in his tone. "Well, you've been nothing but a pain in my ass from day one. You push and prod me too much for your own good, and you don't know when to give up."

Jaelyn bit her lip and tried to ignore the terrible pounding in her chest. She had something to confess to him, and she was more than a little nervous about it. It would be the first time she ever opened herself up to anyone, never mind the fact that she had never had anyone to open herself up to before.

She looked at him steadily, seriously.

"I do those things because I care about you...a lot."

At first, he said nothing, only remained looking at her. Her eyes stared into his, pleading with him not to push away. And the desire she had felt when they'd been crouched near the clearing, when she had been watching him, filled her now. It was the perfect moment to act upon it, or so she thought. She had thought it had been the perfect moment for all of it. When you stared death in the face, it was time to come clean with how you truly felt, because you may never get the chance again.

She reached out to touch his face, careful not to brush over the purple welt Akereth had given him, and then she boldly leaned in to kiss him, a kiss that was clear of all trickery. But his inexhaustible defenses rose up and blocked her out.

He wrenched away and shoved her back, a dark, ominous expression on his face.

"Well, I don't care about you," he said, coldly. "And I never will. So, just stop trying. Your efforts are useless and pathetic."

Jaelyn stared at him, stricken. Her eyes filled with tears again. This time they fell over the rim and down her dark cheeks.

She moved as far away from him as her chain lead would allow and tried to ignore the terrible, sharp pain in her chest. He looked away, stared at the door and tried not to hate himself.

Why should he hate himself for it? It was the truth, and it was about time she realized it.

Jaelyn sat back against the wall again, her face turned away and her back to him as she stared through tear-blurred eyes into the darkest corner of the room. At the moment, she wanted nothing more than to fade into that darkness. She had never felt more terrible in her life. He might as well have stabbed her through the heart; it felt no different.

She put her hands over her eyes as if it were enough to restrain the tears and she bit back a sob. She had been a fool, an utter fool to tell him how she truly felt.

She had opened her heart to him and he had crushed it, just as Gulaonar had said he would.


	26. Chapter 26: Realization

**xxxxxx**

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-Six:**

**Realization**

**xxxxxx**

**The** halfling's ocean-blue gaze swept over the natives.

They all appeared bored and restless. Earlier, despite knowing they were exposed, they seemed fine with just sitting around, but now there was the need to get moving again. It was in their constant shifting stances, in their watchful blue eyes, written into their rugged features, and it could even be heard in their weary sighs.

With a thoughtful dent in his brow, Quin looked off in the direction his companions had disappeared. It had been three hours since they'd left. How long did it take to travel ten miles? They'd traveled further before in less time.

_And they wouldn't go the full ten miles, would they? Not when they're scouting. Don't want to get too close; just want to make sure the way is clear,_ Quin mused.

Then why was it taking so long? They should've been back by now.

And of course, with the delay came the worry and Quin's quick and colorful imagination began summoning up many different types of scenarios for why the two rangers had not yet returned, none of which were pleasant and most bordered on the ludicrous. For some reason, he kept picturing them getting eaten by dragons, despite the fact that the only threat out there was the drow.

_They couldn't have been eaten by dragons_, he assured himself. _There aren't any dragons on the island, and besides that, Jaelyn is kin to them, sort of; she speaks their language at least, so she could probably talk her way out of trouble with a dragon._

He shook his head. It was ridiculous, the wild imaginings of halflings.

But there were other scenarios that were all too possible.

Lately, Bishop and patience had become complete strangers. He seemed to not know the meaning of the word, especially when it came to Jaelyn. Quin knew without a doubt that the ranger would get physical with her again if she crossed the line, and Jaelyn was crossing more lines than she should have been. So it wasn't impossible that their delay might be because they had gotten into it again.

Then there was the possibility that they had been captured by the drow, perhaps even killed by them and that was something Quin didn't even want to think about. He'd personally seen and had been victim to the drow's capabilities. The very idea of them undergoing what he had suffered made him want to panic. He didn't care much for what happened to Bishop. It was Jaelyn's well-being that concerned him.

If the delay wasn't because they'd been captured, then Quin wished they'd hurry it up. It was boring standing around there with the natives. He couldn't communicate with any of them other than with hand signals and that only made everything more confusing. He'd have better luck communicating with Baeylene.

The infant was currently being cared for by Jaelyn's native friend, Akereth.

Quin approved of him more than he approved of the ranger. Akereth was a nice guy and seemed to care a lot for Jaelyn. And his surprise attack on Bishop only earned him more points in the halfling's books. His only problem with the man was the fact that his feelings toward Jaelyn seemed to be too intense for him only having known her a short time. They were the type of feelings one might have for someone they'd known their entire life. And Akereth wasn't exactly an intense person. But then perhaps he felt things more strongly than normal. Maybe that was why the native so foolishly attacked Bishop. It had taken the ranger by surprise and had worked, true, but any other time he might not have been so lucky. You were never, under any circumstances, supposed to charge an armed opponent when you had no weapon of your own. It was reckless and stupid, but perhaps it was Akereth's anger and his need to defend the woman he cared for that had aided him in that attack.

Jaelyn was right in saying that what ever Akereth had felt in that moment might actually help his people against the drow. It was a passion for a greater good, made hard and impenetrable by anger caused by injustice. It was how they needed to look at their situation; it was probably the only thing that was going to save them. If it worked on someone like Bishop, it would no doubt work on the drow as well. In Quin's opinion, they weren't much different from each other. Both were cold-blooded, evil, self-serving, and treacherous. It was a wonder the ranger hadn't been born a drow. He'd fit in perfect with them.

A rapid rustling sound behind him drew Quin out of his own thoughts.

He spun sharply, yanking his rapier clear of its sheath, expecting to see the Gods only knew what kind of horrible creature, given the islands strange inhabitants, or even worse, maybe a couple of drow. What he saw was nothing at first, and the rustling sound had stopped. The halfling scanned around the area, his eyes peeled and his ears perked.

Something moved. He tried to follow the movement, but lost it. It was moving much too fast for his eyes to follow, but he didn't have to wonder about what it was for much longer.

After he lost sight of whatever it was, Quin turned this way and that and then a brown blur arrowed out of some nearby bushes, and struck Quin in the chest. He went falling backwards into the dirt with a yelp. Claws hooked sharply into his leather armor and a familiar furry face hovered over his.

Recognition dawned on the halfling.

"Feral!" he piped, holding onto the cat-bear. "What're you doing out here all by yourself? Where's Jaelyn?"

The cat-bear let out a sharp whine, moved off the halfling's chest and then pulled at the hem of his cloak with his teeth, eagerly in an effort to get the halfling up.

Quin sat up and gave a light chuckle at Feral's odd behavior. "What's the matter with you, boy?"

Feral pawed at him and then looked out into the forest, a look of distress on his feline features.

Quin frowned as he got to his feet, following the cat-bear's gaze. Feral took off into the forest.

"Hey, wait!"

Feral stopped and looked back, expectantly. It was obvious to Quin that the cat-bear wanted him to follow.

"All right," Quin said. "Just give me a minute."

It took more than a minute for Quin to explain to Akereth that he was going to follow Feral, Jaelyn's animal companion into the forest and that they were all to stay there. Even as he walked away to follow the cat-bear, he knew that all of what he'd tried to say didn't communicate. The halfling could only hope they would stay put and that no drow would come upon them.

Quin followed Feral for a few miles until they came to a clearing. The halfling kept to the trees despite the fact that Feral went in without caution. He noticed the tent first and then the two drow bodies.

When Quin finally moved into the clearing, he saw that the first body was half eaten and had a deep sword wound in his chest. The other body was lying face down near the open flap of the tent. There was an arrow in the back of his skull.

While Quin looked them over carefully, surmising that this was his companions doing, Feral was sniffing around the ground, trying to pick up his mistress' scent. Quin also noticed a lot of tracks in the ground, but he couldn't make heads or tails of them. The only thing he knew of them was that they were all drow tracks. Jaelyn and Bishop never left any. What he couldn't figure out was the differences in the tracks to determine how many drow there actually were; they all looked the same to him. If there hadn't been two bodies laying around, he might have guessed only one drow had been there. For all he knew, there might have been four or five.

A high pitched whimper brought the halfling's gaze to the cat-bear, but the animal was already bounding out of the clearing in an eastern direction.

Quin hopped after him. "Wait for me!"

It wasn't easy keeping up with the cat-bear. The animal was agitated and impatient and Quin knew now by his behavior that something must've happened to Jaelyn and Bishop.

Perhaps they had been outnumbered in the clearing and had been captured. He hadn't remembered seeing any blood, other than what belonged to the two dead drow there, so that was a good sign. Neither one of them was hurt.

Feral slowed to let Quin catch up.

The halfling watch him as he sniffed at the ground and noted the tracks in the dirt that the animal seemed to be following. Quin knew it wasn't the footprints Feral was leading them by but a scent, although he wouldn't have been surprised. The cat-bear was intelligent, far too intelligent to be what he was.

They traversed through the wild forest, keeping a steady pace until finally the cat-bear came to a halt, sniffing around for a brief moment and then looking up at the halfling intently.

Quin glanced around in confusion. There was nothing around them but foliage, trees and other assorted flora and then an ivy covered cliff wall to their right side. There was a small trail leading from where they stood and around the side of the cliff face. Quin followed this, but was brought to a small alcove where there was a very crude, makeshift cart sitting. Quin came back around to where the cat-bear was sitting.

"What is this, Feral? There's nothing here."

Feral made a face, gave his yellow eyes a roll, and then darted through the ivy and into what should have been solid stone.

Quin made a startled, choking sound and then grabbed the ivy, tearing it aside to reveal the gaping mouth of a cave.

"Oh." said Quin. "Right. A cave entrance covered with ivy. Should've seen that one coming."

He pulled his rapier from its sheath and ventured after Feral.

**xxxxxxxxxx**

Their cell was as silent as a tomb and if they couldn't figure out a way to escape their imprisonment, it was going to _be_ their tomb.

Bishop had tried to make use of the quiet to come up with a plan to get them out of there, but he couldn't think at all. He just kept seeing that hurt look on Jaelyn's face, the heartbreak his cold-blooded words had elicited. Of course, he wanted it this way, he wanted her to hate him; if hurting her like this didn't drive her away and make her quit for good, then nothing would, and yet at the same time, he hated himself for it. He almost wished it didn't have to come to this, but it just couldn't be helped. It was who he was, how he dealt with things of this nature. He couldn't get close, he couldn't form attachments; he just couldn't. It meant changing, it meant sharing himself with someone, and he needed the freedom to be who and what he was. He wasn't going to change for anyone.

Then why was he hating himself? Why did he feel guilty?

He turned his head, looked at her, studied her. She was still facing that dark corner, but she was very still, like a statue. Her right hand lay limp against the floor, her head was slightly tilted down, and her shoulders sagged. She almost looked asleep, but her light breathing told him she was definitely awake. So, even her pose spoke of her sadness.

Why did she care about him when he'd made it perfectly clear that he didn't care about her and especially after all the things he'd said and done? Why did it have to be her, the only one who hadn't given up on him where everyone else had? How long was he going to have to keep fighting her off?

She was already putting irritating feelings and emotions in him, making him feel guilty when he knew he shouldn't, making him hate himself, and making him want her. How much more of this could he take? How much more until he fell for her?

He already teetered on the edge, and gods, how he hated it. And yet even though she was the one doing this to him, there wasn't a thing he hated about her or could hate about her, except maybe that persistence, and only because he knew it was going to be his downfall if he couldn't find a way to make her stop; otherwise, he found himself admiring her for the fact that she kept going on despite the odds. It was probably why she was still alive. He admired her strength and moxie, the way she stood up to him like no one else ever had, even though at times it made him want to strangle her. He appreciated the challenge, though. He also respected her appreciation for nature and its laws, and the way she lived her life, one day at a time, as it came to her.

Maybe it was that admiration for her that made him do what he was about to do, something he'd never done before in his life.

He squirmed, trying desperately to fight off this uncomfortable urge to apologize for the cruel things he'd said. It was stupid; why should he apologize? All he'd said to her was nothing but the truth, damn it. And he would never apologize for telling the truth.

Was it the truth?

Yes, he wasn't going to question it. He quickly reminded himself that he had tried strangling her. That was enough there to prove to himself that he didn't care about her. But then he recalled how he'd felt that pang of guilt at seeing the bruise he'd left on her neck. And there were other things, things that were now making him doubt what he wanted to believe.

Even if he did care...No, he didn't; he couldn't.

He would still apologize, though. He would do it simply to make her stop blubbering so they could put their heads together and figure out how to get out of there. That was all that concerned him now.

Bishop sighed. It was supposed to be a sound of irritation but it was more frustrated and weary.

"Hey." he said to her, maintaining a gruff edge to his voice.

He wasn't surprised in the least that she didn't reply. She did, however, go stiff at the sound of his voice, so he at least knew she heard him. The question was whether or not she was going to ignore him after he was so blatantly cruel to her.

"Drow."

No answer.

He frowned. Apparently, she _was_ going to ignore him, and that only proved to annoy him. Was she really going to pull the silent treatment on him?

"Look," he said curtly, getting angry. "I'm just trying to-"

Jaelyn turned toward him so abruptly and with such a hot look of anger that his mouth snapped shut and his insides flinched. There was a flash of red in the depths of her green eyes.

"I don't give a damn what you're trying to do!" she shrieked at him. There was a loud rattling of chains as she moved toward him, violently, her hands clenched into trembling fists. "And my name isn't 'drow' or 'girl'! It's Jaelyn, so get it right...or else! And where do you get off calling me pathetic? At least I'm not afraid to care about you! What do you do, huh? You hide behind walls like a coward! _You're_ pathetic!"

She paused to breathe. It came in heavy and labored from her anger. She also found that she had, sometime or another, gotten to her feet to lean over him in a foreboding fashion.

Bishop stared at her, surprised by the outburst, but amused by it just the same. So, this was what she was doing over there all that time? Letting her anger toward him build to this entertaining crescendo? He wondered how far she'd allow her rage to go. As of yet, she only looked like she wanted to smack him, but he wondered how long it would take her to actually do it.

He opened his mouth, but she wasn't finished yet.

"If you don't care about me, fine! I'm obviously not going to make you care, and it would be a waste of time, anyway." she continued. "So, go ahead and stay heartless, go ahead and stay hidden behind your stupid walls, and you can _rot_ behind them!"

He waited a moment to make sure she wasn't going to interrupt him again. He couldn't wait to see the look on her face when he apologized.

"Are you done now?" he finally said, poison in his voice.

She glared icy daggers at him. "As a matter of fact, no, I'm not done. I should really be thanking you; you've made me realize something. I made the wrong decision. Akereth is ten times the man you'll ever be."

Those words did to Bishop what Jaelyn had wanted them to do. They hit a nerve. It didn't have as much impact as she had been hoping for, but the anger it put in his expression was good enough for her. Unfortunately, it didn't last long.

He burst into a harsh laugh.

"Right. That's why you keep pining after me, then, because he's ten times the man I am?"

She smiled, venomously. "You've shown me the error of my ways. I was a fool to want you, to be attracted to you, to believe in you. You're beyond help, beyond hope. No matter what happens here, whether the drow kill us or not, the end result will still be the same. You're going to die alone. Should they kill you first, I'm not going to shed a single tear for you! You'll die knowing no one ever loved you. No one's going to miss you and no one's going to care that you're gone. But that could have been different if you'd only learn to let down your walls and let someone in."

Her words were ones of anger. Deep down, she meant none of them; she simply wanted to hurt him the way he had hurt her. She should've known she couldn't hurt him, though. You couldn't hurt someone that felt nothing.

And yet he looked at her disdainfully, angry by what she'd said. And in his anger, he forgot about any apology; he wasn't going to apologize after that.

"You think I care about any of that?" he snapped at her. "You think any of it's going to matter after I'm dead? I don't care if anyone loves me or not, I don't care if I'll be missed or not. I don't want or need any of it and anyone that does is weak and pathetic!"

There was so much cold bitterness in his tone.

"You need it more than you know." she replied.

"Says you. And what would you know about it? You've spent so much of your life running from everyone to even know what any of it means."

"But I didn't run from you, and believe me, there were times when I wanted to. I believed in you, Bishop, I really did. Maybe I shouldn't have; I'm beginning to see how you could not be worth it."

"Good, then do yourself a favor and give up. You waste your time. No matter what you say or do, you're not getting me."

"That's fine with me; I'm through with wanting you."

Bishop was about to reply with a cutting barb when the door to their cell squeaked open and the leader of the drow that had captured them marched in, followed by two others.

The ranger rose quickly, not wanting to be caught in a disadvantageous position, or at least one worse than what he currently found himself facing. Besides, you couldn't fight sitting down.

Jaelyn tensed, noting the smug, evil looks on the drows' faces. She caught the eye of their leader and he immediately advanced toward her.

Despite the fact that there was no escape, Jaelyn backed as far away from the approaching drow as possible.

He reached out and caught her chain, yanking her to him by it. She was forced into him and he put his hands on her, held her against him while groping her at the same time.

"You're going to want death after I'm done with you." he hissed in her ear.

Jaelyn, feeling panic run through her, struggled to free herself from the drow's grasp. Her fighting only proved to excite him further.

He laughed. "Now, let us continue where we left off, shall we?"

He crushed her back into the wall, and yanked fervently at her leather tunic, trying to free it from where it was tucked into her belt.

Jaelyn stuck her hands against his chest and tried to shove him off with all the strength she possessed, but he barely budged. Fear had overwhelmed her anger and robbed her of the strength she needed.

By the door, the other two drow looked on in amusement.

"Leave enough of her unharmed so I can get a go at her." one of them insisted with a grin, but the drow that had Jaelyn pinned to the wall was beyond listening. His senses and control were hampered by his unbridled lust and the flood of power her struggling gave him.

Bishop merely stood there and watched, telling himself that if she couldn't fight the drow off on her own, then she deserved what happened to her, and yet the drow's behavior made him angry, so angry he could barely contain himself. He tried to keep his gaze elsewhere, he tried telling himself it didn't matter what they did to her, but none of it was working. His eyes came back, he looked back, and saw the drows hands on her.

They were on her breasts for a moment before they moved down to work on unbuckling her belt. She fought back as hard as she could. Bishop could tell by the contorted expression on her face. There was terror, anger and desperation there and underneath it all was the realization of what was going to happen to her and she could do nothing to stop it. The drow had her firmly pinned against the wall, his leg pressing into her thighs so she couldn't move to kick him, leaving her with only her upper body to defend herself with. It did no good. Drow females may be stronger and bigger than drow males, but that strength was nothing when you were as restrained and afraid as she was.

He saw tears building in her eyes and in that moment, he wanted to scream at her, to tell her no, don't give him that; don't let him see he's getting to you, don't give him what he wants. But what did it matter? If Bishop could see her fear, so could the drow, and it would only serve to feed his desire.

It did, but what fed the drow's desire also fed Bishop's rage.

The tears never fell, but she did something much worse than tears. She pleaded with him, tried to get through to him, tried to use words where words would never reach.

"Let me go." she said, her voice trembling. "You don't have to do this, you don't have to follow Dresmor."

The ranger stared at her in growing frustration and anger. How was it that she could stand up to him and scream at him not moments ago and now seem so helpless and afraid? How could she be ready to fight him for words he'd said and then only try to foolishly 'talk' this drow into letting her go while he pinned her against a wall with the only intention of raping her? Gods, how he wanted to strangle her, how he wanted to grab her and shake her until she started making sense! Yes, he knew that it was difficult to fight when your hands are shackled and leashed to the floor; he understood that she was trying with all she had to defend herself against this, but it still frustrated him to no end.

The drow gave her a demonic smile. "I follow him for now, but his reign over us won't last much longer. Our beloved Spider Queen desires your sacrifice, and She will reward me with the power to end Dresmor's leadership for good. Your death is the only thing I want, other than what I am about to take, that is."

Without another word, the drow yanked her belt open and slipped a hand down the front of her trousers, violating her further.

Jaelyn let out a harrowing cry of outrage and despair. His touch, his invasion made her sick to her stomach. It made her skin crawl. She had enough room to beat at him with her fists, but it only proved to amuse him.

The drow laughed and leaned into her, pressing his body against her to keep her crushed against the wall so she couldn't fight back.

"Mmm...still pure, I see." he hissed. "But not for much longer."

To her relief, the drow's hand withdrew, but the relief didn't last long and her terror and disgust reinforced itself as he began working on loosening his belt and trousers.

And that was it. As much as Bishop wanted to remain indifferent, he couldn't stand it anymore. This drow was trying to take what Bishop wanted for himself and that wasn't going to happen. She was going to be his, no one else's.

"Get away from her."

His slow, cold, growling voice made the drow freeze in the midst of undoing his pants. He spared the ranger a glance and then laughed at him, at the look on the man's face that promised the drow his demise. Jaelyn looked at him as well, in surprise. Overwhelmed by a multitude of emotions, the tears she had held back came down her cheeks.

"Ah, so this _does_ bother you." the drow said. "All the better. There's not a thing either one of you can do about it."

With a grin, he returned his attention to Jaelyn. At the sight of her wet cheeks, he made a mocking pout at her.

"Aw, don't worry. I'll try to be gentle."

His hand came around her throat and he leaned forward once again, burying his face in her neck, inhaling her scent. Jaelyn tried to twist away to no avail. She was trembling in anger, trembling in fear. There was nothing she could do, there was no escape. The only person that could help her was Bishop, but he wasn't moving, despite being only a few feet away and within perfect reach.

Bishop fought with himself, fought against the temptation to end this bastard's life, knowing what it would mean; it meant putting his own life on the line. Was it all really worth it? Was she worth it?

Jaelyn was confused and she felt panic squeezing her insides again. Why wasn't he doing anything? He could help her, he could do something, anything, but he wasn't. Would he really just let this happen?

She hated him for standing there, for letting this bastard do these things to her, for not putting a stop to it. He was going to let her get raped, he was going to just stand there and watch it happen. Why? Why wouldn't he help her? She wanted to scream at him, but her voice was choked by her terror.

Their gazes met across the distance and she held his eyes with such force that he couldn't look away. Her green eyes were no longer filled with tears and they didn't plead for his help. She knew he wasn't going to help her, and that fact put bitter hatred in her gaze with an undertone of agonized hopelessness.

But she was wrong.

The drow's hands came to her waist, holding her still and then he thrust his hips against hers. Jaelyn shut her eyes and grit her teeth. If this was going to happen, she wasn't going to let this bastard see the horror and fear in her eyes. She wasn't going to cry out or scream; she wasn't going to give him what he wanted. She wasn't going to give him the power he sought.

There was no invasion yet, but she could feel him all the same. Had she not been so terrified and angry, she would have vomited.

Her heart grew achingly cold. Despite what she told herself moments ago, it just wasn't in her to do nothing. With her eyes still shut, she let out a desperate scream and she hit at him again, trying to fight him off. She even arched herself against him in an attempt to use her body weight to force him off. None of it worked.

The drow grabbed her by her chains and pinned her arms to the wall above her head with one hand. The other reached down between them and roughly forced her legs apart. He pressed a knee into her thigh to keep her from closing them.

The drow's actions and the hatred toward him he'd seen in Jaelyn finally inspired action in Bishop.

He looked upon the violating drow sharply, his eyes narrowing into two flaming gold slits. The intensity of his anger made his vision blur and the solid control over his emotions that had taken him years to master broke. He was no stranger to rage, but he had never known rage on this level.

Had the drow been looking at him, he might have realized his fate; as it was, he never saw it coming. Perhaps it was for the best. The expression on the ranger's face was beyond unpleasant. It was a nasty, demonic expression, definitely something one didn't want to see just before they died.

Bishop's hands curled tight around his chain, so tight that the metal bit into his palms; he didn't care. The rest happened so fast that the other two drow by the door had no time to react to save their comrade. But knowing them, they probably wouldn't have tried, anyway.

There was a blur of movement and then Bishop's chain came down around the drow's throat and wrapped around once. The drow got off a startled, choked sound before he was yanked violently away from Jaelyn.

The drow's hands went up to the chain cutting off his airway, but it didn't matter. The chain tightened and then with a yank to the right, Bishop effortlessly broke his neck. The chain cut so forcefully and deeply into the drow's neck that it severed the jugular vein. Blood gushed everywhere.

He unwound the bloody chain and let the body fall at his feet.

The other two drow stared down at their fallen commander in disbelief. It had all happened so fast that they didn't know how to react properly. One minute he was alive and the next he was dead, just like that.

Even Jaelyn was staring at the deceased drow in shock, unable to speak.

One of the other two drow finally recovered. He yanked his sword from its sheath and leaped at Bishop, anger contorting his dark, sylven features.

Bishop ducked and the fast swing that might have taken his head off instead struck across the stone wall behind him in a shower of sparks and a sharp, scratchy, metallic sound that set teeth on edge.

He never hesitated to take advantage of the opening this left behind in the drow's defense. Grasping his chains once again, leaving a bit of slack hanging this time, he swung it full force into the drow. The blow whipped across the dark elf's face in a spray of blood and then he fell backwards, unconscious, his sword falling out of his hand when he hit the ground.

It clattered near Jaelyn's feet. The close metallic sound broke through her shock. She blinked rapidly as her anger returned. Her revenge could not be sought now, since the one that had violated her lay dead in a pool of his own blood, but she could still take out the other, or she could at least try.

She reached down and picked up the weapon just in time to see the other drow advance on the ranger. To her, it looked like Bishop wouldn't have enough time to defend himself from the attack.

But the drow's swinging sword was parried by the chain. Bishop swiftly whirled it around the blade, wrapping it up in the links to trap it, but the drow planted a foot in his gut and kicked him back into the stone wall. The painful force knocked the breath clear out of his lungs. For one horrific second, he feared he would black out. His vision blurred and then darkened for an instant and his knees threatened to come unhinged. He was forced to let go of the chain to brace himself against the wall. His moment of weakness was pounced upon by the drow, who brought his sword arm back to drive the blade into the ranger.

Jaelyn never hesitated to throw herself in front of him, despite all Bishop had done and said to her. That need to protect him came to her full force, overpowering her anger; the terrible thought of him coming to harm was too much for her to simply stand by and do nothing.

She knew now that it was too late for her to give up on him, too late to make herself hate him. She had gotten in too deep. She knew it was only going to end with her heart getting broken, but that didn't stop her from putting her life on the line for him, for this man who would never care about her, who would never love her.

Gods, she was such a fool.

She realized what this was as she sloppily threw up the sword in her hand to block the incoming attack from the drow.

This had to be love. She must love him if she could risk her own life for him, knowing that he wouldn't care. She had once told herself that this was never going to happen, that loving this man would be beyond foolish, but she couldn't deny what she felt in his moment of danger. Why? Why him? Of all the males in the world, why did it have to be this one? Why did she have to want the one that was most untouchable? Why couldn't she catch a damn break?

Jaelyn let off a vicious cry and shoved back on the drow's sword with her own, despite the fact that she knew nothing about swordplay and that her shackled hands also hampered her from doing very much with the weapon. The drow stumbled back a step, recovered unexpectedly quick and then lunged forward at her. Her eyes grew wide as she realized she wasn't going to be able to block the attack in time, but she suddenly found her arms swinging up in an expert parry, even though her brain had no idea what one looked like.

She slowly registered Bishop's presence just behind her right shoulder. He had a hold of her hands in both of his, guiding it into the parry and then following up with a thrust that made the drow back off.

It gave Bishop enough time to shove her out of his way with his hip while yanking the sword out of her hands in the same move.

She stumbled away, caught herself on the wall, and then turned to witness the end of the fight between the two. It didn't last long.

There was a thrust on the drow's part and another parry on the ranger's. The two swords came together with a loud clang. Bishop tried to whirl the blades to break contact, but his chained hands prevented him from doing so. The drow shoved back on the ranger's blade, making him stumble back into the wall again. He grit his teeth and when the drow came in to attack again, he ducked and rammed his sword forward into the drow's abdomen. It went straight through him and he died with a surprised look on his face.

He shoved the drow off the sword with his foot and then spun sharply to the unconscious drow, a fierce, abhorrent look contorting his face. Without hesitation, he hacked deep into the drow's chest. He yanked the weapon back and then angrily flung it across the cell. His blood-stained hands clenched into tight fists and his breath came out heavy. It wasn't from exertion. The rage still ran through him. He'd just killed three drow, but it wasn't enough to sate his anger. He wanted more drow blood to spill for this.

A few moments passed and he was finally able to get some kind of control over his anger.

The cell was silent once again.

Bishop bent down to one of the bodies and began searching for the keys to their shackles. Jaelyn hesitantly knelt next to him and began looking through the pockets and pouches on the other body. She stole glances at him, alarmed by the ferocity she had just witnessed. She had never seen him that angry before. She was almost afraid to be near him.

She found the key in a small pouch tied to the drow's belt.

"Here it is." she said, softly.

He turned slightly, unwillingly to meet her gaze and thrust his hands at her. She fought off the urge to flinch back and then reached over with the little bronze key. It hovered over the locking mechanism on his shackles, but made no move to unlock them.

He gave her an impatient frown, but she didn't notice this. Her gaze was on the drow bodies once again and there was a thoughtful look on her face.

"Come on," he growled. "We don't have time."

She looked at him and swallowed hard. "I've got an idea."

"What now?" he replied, irritably. "I just want to get the hells out of here."

"Yes," she agreed. "As do I, but we don't know what's in this cave. We could be heavily outnumbered. We can't risk walking out there and getting surrounded. If they catch us again, they won't imprison us, they'll just kill us."

Bishop grudgingly conceded her point. "Fine. I'm listening, but this better be good."

"All right, this is my plan: I'll disguise myself in their armor and cloak and we'll keep the shackles on you. When we leave, it'll simply look like another one of them escorting a prisoner."

"And if someone decides to stop and ask questions?"

"Then I'll try to disguise my voice and answer them the best I can." she replied and then sighed. "Look, this is the only way we're going to escape. We can't fight our way out of this."

He knew she was right, but he didn't like the alternative plan either.

"Then do what you need to do before someone starts wondering where these three are."

Jaelyn nodded and handed him the key to unlock her shackles. When the iron cuffs fell away from her bruised and bloody wrists, she immediately grabbed the nearest deceased drow's boots and yanked them off before starting on the rest of the garb.

Almost every drow they'd come across wore the same kind of soft, black leather armor, dark purple cloaks, soft-soled, black leather boots, gloves, and studded, metal arm-guards.

Bishop moved to help her if only so they could get done faster. He kept looking at the open door, expecting drow to come pouring through it at any second.

"Listen," she said tentatively as they worked. "Whatever your intention was when you pulled that bastard off of me, I just wanted to thank you. If you hadn't done that, he might have..."

She couldn't finish. The horror of it all was still too fresh.

"Don't thank me." he snapped, defensively. "I didn't do it for you."

"I didn't say you did. I said whatever your intention was."

"I would've let him do whatever he wanted to you if he hadn't been such an easy target. Consider yourself lucky. That isn't going to happen ever again."

"Maybe not," she replied, yanking angrily at the clasps that held the cloak to the drow's leather armor. "But I wouldn't hesitate to do again what I did for you moments ago."

"And there's the difference between you and I." he said. "I don't give a damn what you did. If you think it makes a difference to me, you're wrong."

She paused, watching him closely. "Then why did you guide me into that attack?"

She knew she shouldn't have been pushing him, not after the amount of anger he'd just displayed moments ago.

"'Cause that blade would've gone through you and very likely into me. I wasn't taking that chance."

"You could've pushed me into the attack. The force would've impaled me on his blade and driven the drow backwards away from you." she pointed out. "You would've gotten what you wanted...if that's what you truly wanted."

He froze. She had pushed too hard again.

Slowly, his head rose. There was a terrible glint in his eyes and a dark, seductive look that made her heart seize up. It was the same look the drow had given her just before he forced himself on her.

"I could show you what I truly want." he spoke in a low, threatening voice. "Or I could just take it."

Jaelyn forced a look of defiance, despite the fear that welled up in her. He'd backed her into a wall plenty of times with only one intention in mind, but she'd always been able to escape that situation before it progressed. She didn't think she'd escape it this time if he decided to pounce on her.

"You wouldn't." she dared to say, her voice wavering. "I know you wouldn't."

He gave her an evil, twisted smirk. "Then you don't know me very well."

His hands struck out, grabbed the front of her leather armor, and yanked her to him. She let out a cry of surprise and protest. Her hands immediately curled up into fists, which she forced into his chest in terror. He smiled into her fearful eyes. That was what he wanted to see, her defiance turning to fear. It meant she was truly uncertain of her own words moments ago. She didn't know for sure what he was capable of. As long as she remained uncertain, he could keep her out.

And yet he betrayed his own thoughts. He'd gotten what he wanted out of this; he'd gotten her fear and uncertainty, but it wasn't as satisfying as it had been the last time he put that fear in her.

The hands in her armor loosened its forceful grip and they found their way to her face, his thumb brushing across her cheek. The touch was uncharacteristically gentle. Jaelyn looked upon him in surprise and confusion, unsure of his intent, unsure of any of it. His hand moved and touched her snow white hair. It was soft, despite the tangles. He loved those tangles. Her hair had gotten back to the way he liked it, a chaotic mess, but now with a few braided strands around her face that ended in beads, both courtesy of the native women.

He wanted to kiss her, and he realized with horror that this time the desire didn't come with dark intentions or evil purpose. This time there was no thought of ruining her for anyone else or of bedding an unbedded woman. He just wanted to kiss her, to feel her mouth against his and to feel again that intense rush he'd felt the last time they'd kissed.

Gods, how he hated her for making it be like this. It should've been simple; he should've just wanted to screw her and be done with her. But now all he wanted was that godsforsaken, damning kiss so full of magic, that kiss that made him feel alive.

But no, no matter how good it had felt, no matter how much he longed for it, he wasn't going to give in to the temptation. It would ruin him forever. And he wasn't going to be ruined by a woman. He'd be damned if he let it happen.

And so Bishop drew back and returned to removing the drow's armor without so much as a word, yet it was in the way he remained silent that made Jaelyn sit there a moment longer and wonder what it was that had changed him from being forceful to gentle in that moment and what had his expression ranging from foreboding to longing and now of cold bitterness. For someone who rarely showed emotion, he had just exposed a great deal of it in almost an instant.

She didn't pursue it, whatever it was. It was obvious to her that she had yet again overstepped her boundaries and she didn't want to anger him any further; it would've been suicidal to do so.

After much repositioning of the body, they finally got all the armor off, leaving the dead drow there in his skivvies. Jaelyn looked over the attire and then down at herself in skepticism. The armor was going to be a bit short on her. Male drow were naturally shorter and smaller than female drow, and taking into consideration the fact that Jaelyn was half drow and half wood elf, she was much taller than even the average female drow. But what choice did she have in the matter? Maybe she could pass herself off as an unnaturally tall male drow. Or maybe she'd get lucky and no one would notice at all.

She began undoing her own leather armor. Since the other drow had gotten most of her lacing undone, the task of getting it off was made simpler. Underneath her leather, she wore the outfit the native women had made for her, so she didn't care if Bishop ogled her or not. He wasn't seeing anything he hadn't seen before. But he wasn't staring at her, he was watching the door. Granted, he was only doing so to keep his eyes off of her, even though he told himself he was doing so to watch for drow.

Jaelyn hurriedly pulled the drow's armor on, tying and buckling everything into place. Afterward, she sat down to pull the boots on, lacing them up properly. She then slipped the gloves on and strapped the iron arm-guards to her forearms. Finally, she fastened the cloak onto her shoulders.

She bent and retrieved the sword and sword belt from beside the body and cinched it across her waist. The sword hung at her left hip, not that she planned to use it. She was simply keeping up the other drow's appearance. She prayed she didn't have to use it, otherwise they were going to be in deep trouble.

Jaelyn pulled her hair back and tied it into a pony-tail using a bit of leather string she kept on her for that purpose, and then she pulled the hood of the cloak over her head to hide her face.

She bent again, and took the dead drow underneath the arms. She dragged him across the room to the darkest corner, and then came back and did the same to the other two. She then took her armor and other accouterments to the corner and dumped them on top of the bodies, hiding them under the things as best she could.

Someone would eventually find the bodies, but she was hoping hiding them would at least give them more time to get out.

She stepped over to Bishop, took the key from him, and bent down to the metal ring his chains were padlocked to. She stuck the key in, gave it a twist and the padlock clicked open.

"All right." she said, holding the end of the chain in her hands as she straightened. "Let's get this over with."

They stepped out of the cell into the shadowy corridor, which was only dimly lit by torches here and there placed in their iron holders against the stone walls. There was no one around to stop them.

This place was similar in layout to that of the place Quin had been kept in. The walls were lined with cell doors and as they passed them, Jaelyn kept glancing through the barred windows to see if they held any prisoners.

"And what do you think you're going to do with them if you find any?" Bishop demanded.

She paused, looking through another window. "I don't know. We could come back for them."

"We?" he replied. "I don't think so. If you're coming back here for anyone, you're coming alone. I've had enough of this place to last me a lifetime."

She shot him a harsh look over her shoulder. "I'm not exactly going to have fond memories of this place, either, but we can't just leave people to die."

"I can."

"Fine." she spat. "Then I'll come back by myself."

He shrugged. "Your funeral."

But it looked like she wouldn't be coming back after all. Once they made it to the end of the corridor to a set of ascending stairs, Jaelyn found every cell they'd passed empty.

They ascended the stairs. As she recalled when the drow had brought them there, there would be another set of stairs after rounding a corner and traversing another long corridor.

At the top of the stairs, they came to another deserted hallway.

"Where is everyone?" Jaelyn wondered aloud. "We know there were at least six of them that captured us and we've only killed three. Well, you killed three."

She had aided him, but she wasn't going to bring that up at the moment. It would only provoke an argument they couldn't afford to have.

"Hopefully they're all dead." he said.

"We're not that lucky."

"Yeah, tell me about it."

They continued on down the hallway, Jaelyn looking through the barred windows on the doors as they passed them. And she finally came upon something.

"Aha!" she announced and grabbed the door knob only to find it locked. "Damn!"

"Good, leave them in there to rot." Bishop said, irritably.

"No," she replied. "You would've been pleased with what lies beyond this door."

"I know I'm going to regret asking, but what is it?"

She smiled. "An arsenal...our confiscated weapons included."

He looked at the door with newly formed interest and then shifted his gaze to her. "Well, why didn't you say so? Get out of the way."

"It's locked." she said, sidling away all the same. "You're not going to-"

Jaelyn was cut off by the sound of him kicking the door down.

She stared at him in surprise as he entered the small room and she followed.

"Okay, I guess you will. Hopefully all that noise didn't attract attention."

"If it did, so what?" he replied, grabbing up his sword from where it had been piled with a bunch of others. "At least now we'll be properly armed when they come. I look forward to it."

"Of course." she replied smartly and caught sight of her bow, propped in a far corner.

Smiling, she dropped his chain and went over and took it up, running her hands along the arc as one might run their hands over a lover.

She pulled the bow string over her head so that it crossed her chest and the top part of the weapon rested against her right shoulder. She didn't bother hiding it under her cloak, mostly so she could have easy access to it. It wouldn't matter if any drow saw it. Her so called prisoner was going to be armed. They would notice that first, which would undoubtedly give them away, but Jaelyn had no desire to tell Bishop to hand over his weapon. It would only have them arguing about it for several minutes and she wouldn't win in the end; she never did. It was better not to waste the time.

She found her quiver sitting on a crate labled 'explosives' and she began strapping it to her right thigh. She paused in sudden horrified realization.

Her eyes fell on the crate and widened.

"Oh...Gods!"

Her outburst drew the ranger's attention.

Catching his stare, she swallowed and pointed. "They've got explosives."

He stared at the crate, a coarse expression overcoming his face. He wasn't surprised in the least, just irritated that things seemed to get worse and worse for them.

"Well, that just fucking figures."

"We can't leave this here." Jaelyn insisted. "We can't leave this in the drow's possession."

Bishop reached out to pull the top off the crate to see just what kind of explosives they were dealing with, but Jaelyn clamped onto his arm, nearly cutting off circulation.

"What are you doing?" she demanded slowly in terror.

"Seeing what they are." he replied, roughly and jerked out of her grasp.

She made a grimace as he pulled the lid off, half expecting them to be blown up, but nothing of the sort happened.

They both leaned over the crate, looking inside.

There were several small green glowing spheres nestled in their own soft, straw filled separators. To the ranger, they looked like blastglobes, but as he recalled, blastglobes were orange because they contained fire. He had no idea what these were, but he assumed they were probably drow-made.

Jaelyn looked at him expectantly. "Well?"

He shrugged. "Got me."

"Well, we should still take them." she said. "Maybe Gulaonar will know what they are."

Bishop grumbled something about being blown into bits and then said "I'm not putting my ass on the line. You want to carry these things all the way back to the village, you're doing it by yourself...and several hundred yards away from me."

"You know I can't carry these things by myself. Besides, would you rather the drow have them?"

"I'd rather not be blown apart."

"You're not going to be. Stop being an idiot."

"With our luck, any thing is possible. In fact, I can tell you word for word how it's going to go down. We're going to walk out this door, carrying these explosives and some idiot is going to come barreling around a corner, run right into this crate and then we're all going to be nothing more than a red splatter on the walls. No thanks, I'll pass."

"If we don't take them, the natives are going to be nothing more than red splatters in battle."

She knew she shouldn't have even bothered.

"Better them than me."

Jaelyn gave him a mean look. "There's a chance it could be you as well."

"Are you threatening me, girl?"

"No, that was no threat. Who's to say you won't face a drow in battle who just happens to be in possession of one of those explosives?"

"I do." he replied without pause. "I never said I'd join their fight, now did I?"

Jaelyn growled at him in her anger, knowing she wasn't going to make him see her point, and then stomped out of the room into the hallway.

As irony would have it, someone came barreling around the corner and ran right into her. If she'd been carrying those explosives, she'd most likely be a red smear on the wall.


	27. Chapter 27: Weapons and Insults

**xxxxxx**

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-Seven:**

**Weapons and Insults**

**xxxxxx**

**Jaelyn** had but a second to gasp and dance away from the rapier that came arcing in at her at a very low angle.

She was then aware of the fact that this attacker was much shorter than any drow she'd ever seen and that he was in fact a halfling. She then noticed Feral at the halfling's heels, his fangs buried in the hem of Quin's cloak in an effort to stop him. She was about to open her mouth in greeting, but the halfling lunged at her with his rapier again, making her jump back to avoid being impaled.

"Come on, you...you..._drow_!" he shouted at her. "You're going to die like all the rest of 'em!"

"Quin!" Jaelyn shouted at him in alarm.

"Why, I'm going to..." Quin began in fury and then paused, blinking suspiciously at the hooded drow before him. "Hey, how do you know my name?"

Jaelyn sighed and threw her hood back.

"Jae!" the halfling blurted, his eyes wide. He laughed. "Sorry about that."

"You'd think you'd at least know my voice by now."

"Sorry...really sorry. I wasn't paying attention; you know, I'm still having a bit of an adrenaline rush from all the fighting."

"Fighting? What fighting?"

Quin grinned inanely. "Oh, just me and Feral here taking care of a few drow on our way through this place. Speaking of which, you'll probably not want to look around too much when we head back out of here. Feral left quite a colorful mess behind."

"How many drow were there?"

"Three."

"No more?"

"No," Quin replied and shifted his gaze from her to the ranger, who stood in the threshold of the arsenal cell, leaning against the frame with his wrists still bound with manacles and chains. "What about you two? What happened?"

Jaelyn let off a soft sigh. "We got caught by drow, as you can see. They locked us up, we got out. That's all really."

"It couldn't have been as simple as that." the halfling replied. "Nothing ever is for us."

It wasn't anything simple but she didn't want to talk about what had happened to her in that cell. She just wanted to forget. She wished she could, but she could still feel that drow pressed against her, she could still hear his mocking voice, she could still feel his hands on her...in her.

She shuddered, feeling sick to her stomach. She wanted to gag.

Quin noticed the grimace on her face and reached out, touching her arm. He frowned when she jerked away.

"Are you all right?"

"Fine." she replied weakly and then cleared her throat. "I'm fine." Her voice was firmer this time.

"Are you sure?" Quin asked, tilting his head to one side with a concerned look on his face. "You don't seem fine at all. In fact, you look a little shaken up."

Jaelyn fought back the urge to snap at him. She knew he was just worried about her, but she just didn't want to think about it anymore. Why couldn't he just stop asking? Why did he have to keep pushing and pushing and...

A horrid realization came over her.

Now she knew how Bishop felt every time she pushed him. Now she understood his frustration and impatience every time she prodded. Sometimes, there were just things you didn't want to talk about. And despite knowing this and understanding it, the thought only reinforced her curiosity about the man. What was it that Bishop didn't want to talk about?

She cast a glance at him. He looked back and, of course, his expression and eyes were as guarded as ever, not that she expected anything else.

With a small sigh, she looked back at Quin.

"I'm fine." she assured him. "I just want to leave this place."

Quin nodded. "Let's go, then. There's nothing left for us here, anyway."

"I beg to differ." Jaelyn replied. "There are weapons and explosives here."

The halfling nodded. "All right. I saw a-" Quin's eyes suddenly flew wide. "Explosives?"

She nodded, pointing at the small cell where Bishop stood. "In there. Maybe you should have a look at them. You Shadow Thieves sometimes use explosives, right? We can't figure out what kind these are."

Quin shrugged and entered the cell, immediately noticing the crates stacked at the back wall. He went over and tried peering into the top crate which had been opened earlier by Bishop, but he couldn't reach it.

Jaelyn came over to give him a boost, lifting him up from under his arms as she might do a child. Quin didn't seem to mind this as he looked into the crate at the little green glowing spheres inside, a knit of concentration in his brow.

"Huh..." he muttered thoughtfully. "Upon first sight, they look like blastglobes; you know, those things the Greycloaks used. But blastglobes are orange, not green, because of the Delayed Blast Fireball spell trapped inside of it. I don't know what these are, I couldn't even guess. They are constructed the same as blastglobes, though."

"Maybe instead of the fire spell it's an acid spell?" Jaelyn ventured as she sat Quin on his feet.

The halfling looked up at her and shrugged. "Maybe. I guess we'll have to try one out later on, huh? Anyway, I saw a cart just outside this cave. It's a little rickety, but I think it works. We could use it to transport more weapons back, and these things, too." He made a gesture at the globes.

Jaelyn inclined her head. "All right, you go get the cart while Bishop and I started moving the weapons. That is if our ranger finds himself in a helpful mood."

Bishop made a face but conceded nonetheless . "Fine, I'll do it if it'll get us out of here quicker. Unlock me."

He held out his shackled wrists, rattling the chains.

Jaelyn smiled slightly and then nodded to Quin, who grinned and then hurried out of the cell. She heard him climbing the stairs, loudly as she moved over to the ranger, pulling the key from one of the small pouches on her belt. She stuck it in the lock on the manacles and gave it a twist. The metal restraints and chains hit the floor with a chorus of metallic clinks.

Without speaking, the two of them began moving the weapons out of the cell.

Jaelyn knew it was going to be a chore moving them all out, considering they still had another flight of stairs they had to ascend. She had half the mind to call to Quin to forget the cart and bring the natives instead, but she figured by the time they got there, they'd have finished loading up the weapons. There wasn't too much to load, anyway.

There were two weapon racks, one filled with a small number of long swords and a single short sword, while the other was mostly pole-arms; a few halberds, a small group of spears, and a rusted and rotting lance that looked out of place among the better weaponry. They moved it as well; every bit helped.

Feral sat outside the cell, watching the two rangers with interest as they moved about, occasionally itching a scratch or cleaning something of himself with his sandpaper-rough tongue.

Sometime later, they had all the weapons sitting up against the wall outside in the corridor, and they now stood around the crates with the dreadful looks often accompanying those who know that all it takes is one mistake, one ill-placed move that will have them blown in eight different directions.

"I have a feeling we're going to regret this." said Bishop, dryly.

"Don't think like that. We'll be fine if we're careful." she replied, though her terrified expression belied her words of confidence. She moved around to the right side of the crate. "I've got this side."

He moved on the other side, slipping his fingers around the wooden handle sticking out of the side of the crate.

Then he paused a moment, looking over the box to make sure it was going to hold. The crate was made of wood, so there was a chance that it might have rotted out over time. It looked fine.

He gripped the handle and then looked up at her to make sure she was ready. At her nod, they lifted the crate carefully. It was surprisingly light, and as they moved it over to the door, it gave a few heart-clenching, foreboding clinks as the globes rubbed together.

Jaelyn cringed and tried to focus on keeping the crate as still as possible in her grip. Bishop was doing the same, his gaze on the lethal little spheres, the only thing keeping them from breaking being some straw and steady hands.

"What first class idiot thought it was a brilliant idea to pack these things like this?" he wondered aloud, as they finally reached the door, irritated with the aforementioned individuals obvious lack of experience with explosive materials.

"I don't know, but they deserve a medal in stupidity." Jaelyn replied.

He scoffed. "And here we are, moving them around. If they deserve the medal, we deserve the trophy."

"We need them." she reminded him.

"We don't know what they do." he pointed out.

They moved so Jaelyn could go through the door first. When they were in the corridor, that was the moment Quin decided to come barreling around the corner, aimed right at them...and the explosives.

Eyes widened, hearts stopped and there was a cry of 'No!' from both rangers. Thankfully, they both had the same idea at the same moment, lifting the crate up so the halfling would run under it instead of into it. It didn't matter.

Feral leaped at the halfling before he could reach them, hitting him in the chest hard. Quin made an _oof_ noise as his back hit the wall. He then slid down it, dazed.

Jaelyn and Bishop eased the crate to the floor, both of their hearts pounding from the near-death experience. Jaelyn noted the fury on the ranger's face, his heated gaze zeroing in on the halfling, and she knew what was about to proceed. She was already moving toward him to stop him.

"You little bastard!" he exclaimed with much hostility as he advanced toward Quin.

Jaelyn grabbed onto his arm, but didn't have much luck restraining him. "Calm down!"

"Calm down? That worthless, little idiot nearly got us blown apart!" he growled, never taking his eyes off Quin.

The halfling rubbed his neck with a wince, shook his head and looked up at them with a sheepish expression. "Um...oops?"

Bishop's face contorted, unpleasantly. "That does it."

He reached down with both hands aimed for Quin's neck. He didn't know exactly what he was going to do; wring it, break it, it didn't matter. He just wanted his hands around the little twerp's neck.

Then he felt something sharp sticking him meaningfully in the ribs.

Bishop paused a moment to look down at his side where he found a sword pointed at him. He stared along it's length until his gaze connected with Jaelyn's.

She stared back at him with a severe expression, both of her hands clenched around the sword's grip.

He smirked faintly. "Oh, really?"

Jaelyn's hands tightened on the weapon and she never broke eye contact with him.

"I...I don't want to use this." she said, her tone one of warning. "But I will if I have to."

He snorted and the smirk became a grin full of teeth. "Yeah? Go on, then. Use it...if you can."

Jaelyn frowned and after a moment, she started to move back away from him, knowing she was beat. Who was she kidding? She couldn't use a sword. And she didn't want to hurt him, either. But Bishop wasn't letting her off the hook that easy. She had started it, and he intended to finish it.

He grabbed her before she could get away, his hand wrapping around her wrist. She let out a startled sound as he swung her around until her back was to him. In the same move, one arm slipped around her waist, holding her back against him and his hand guided hers, the one with the sword, forward, pointing the tip of the weapon at her animal companion. Feral had already been on the move, instantly coming to his mistress' rescue and Bishop knew he would be. Feral now stopped short at the threat of the sword, his yellow eyes flickering up at the ranger in hatred. He let out an angry, menacing growl, the fur on his back bristling.

Quin hopped up to his feet and pulled his rapier out of its sheath. His blue eyes were electrified.

"Let her go!" he demanded.

Bishop smirked at the halfling and lowered his face to Jaelyn's neck.

She felt the scrape of his unshaven cheek against her smoother, softer skin. It was a strange sensation, but not-to her dismay-an unpleasant one. She struggled a moment, and he tightened his arm around her.

"Before you start running around threatening people with swords," he spoke roughly, his lips brushing against her skin, his breath warming it, all of which sent electric currents down her spine. "Know how to use one first."

Jaelyn swallowed hard, fighting off the maddening urge to lean back against him, to melt into him.

He noted the tension in her muscles; the ones in her stomach, where he had his hand, were especially rigid. His little ploy to disquiet her was working. Unfortunately, he hadn't thought his plan through completely; he hadn't taken into consideration that it might affect him or how it might affect him, especially after what had happened in their cell not long ago. He hadn't been thinking about how being close to her then had nearly made him do something stupid. He just wanted to succeed at getting to her, flustering her, upsetting her.

He had gotten to her, but now she was getting to him.

It was the scent of her that got him first, disorienting him. She smelt like grass and dirt, and just beneath it was the sweet suggestion of jasmine from the bath the native women had given her sometime back. The jasmine scent carried strongest on her skin but only faintly in her hair.

As if noticing her scent wasn't bad enough, he then registered the soft feel and warmth of her skin against his mouth. That deepened his focus to the fact that their bodies were pressed together, her smaller, thinner frame fitting sweetly to his larger, more muscular one. It all descended into chaos after that point. His mind hazed over and numbed with desire.

The hand on her stomach moved, slipped in under her armor, his palm resting against the flat plane of her stomach, letting the feel of her soft skin sink into his senses before beginning his quest upward, where he knew from experience how soft and delicate she was and how well she filled his hands, despite being small-chested.

"Hey!" Quin protested in shock. "Cut that out!"

Jaelyn's breath died in her throat. She was terrified, embarrassed, angry and aroused. Again, she struggled between giving in and fighting back. Her mind kept flashing back to what had happened to her in the cell and she couldn't help but wonder if Bishop might do the same thing to her, force himself on her. She didn't know what he was capable of. And yet despite this, she remembered well that night in his shelter, how they had kissed, how he had touched her, and how good it felt. She'd be lying if she said she didn't want that again; she'd be lying if she said she didn't want him, but that drow's face kept coming back; the feel of his invading touch wouldn't go away.

Maybe a good part of her wanted to give in to Bishop, but at that moment, she didn't want to be touched, let alone groped.

Whatever arousal she'd felt was quashed by the mental images of herself being violated and she was left with bitter anger.

She didn't give him a warning to stop; she lashed out.

Jaelyn twisted violently in his grasp and then slammed her foot down on his. He backed off a bit with a grunt made more out of surprise than pain. She didn't wait to see if he would come after her for it. She merely cocked her elbow and threw it back and up into his face. The blow took him right across the mouth. She heard him groan and felt him stagger away.

"Shit!"

Jaelyn spun around, breathing heavily, one of her hands clenching into a fist and the other clenching around the sword. She was surprised to see that her blow had done damage. His lip was bleeding.

She hadn't meant to draw blood, she'd only wanted to send a message.

Bishop touched his mouth and then brought his fingers back, staring in disbelief at the blood staining them. Then his gaze went to her, his features slowly creasing with anger.

She frowned, feeling bad for having hurt him, but she was still angry, too. He should've known better than to try coming on to her like that after what had happened. What in the Nine Hells gave him the idea that she would enjoy it? What made him think she'd allow it?

"Jerk!" she spat at him and then stormed off around the corner, Feral following behind her after offering a final growl in the ranger's direction.

Jaelyn didn't want to be there, she didn't want to be around him or Quin. She wanted to be alone, to think, to cool down...or maybe she just wanted to let loose her anger, maybe she just wanted to scream and hit something without any witnesses to her outburst. She was so focused on leaving that place that she never even noticed the mangled and dismembered drow bodies on her way out of the cave.

Bishop glared off in the direction she had gone, sucking the blood from his lip with a grimace.

He was still a little surprised that she'd attacked him, but more than anything he was pissed at her and frustrated with himself. He didn't know which part of it all made him angrier, the fact that she had hit him or that she had rejected him yet again. And he couldn't figure out why he should be bothered with her rejection.

"Drow bitch."

"Don't call her that!" Quin exclaimed, angrily. "She had all the right in the world to do what she did. You had it coming."

Bishop stepped toward him. It was an aggressive, hostile action and Quin, despite being readily armed, backed up a few steps just to be safe. The ranger didn't have a weapon in hand, but there was one belted at his hip and Quin wasn't exactly sure of his chances against Bishop, especially when he was angry. Quin was much smaller than him and where the halfling's speed might have been an advantage over his average taller, bigger adversaries, Bishop possessed that same quickness. Quin had no advantage in a fight against him.

But the ranger didn't do anything. He merely stood there for a moment, hatefully glaring at Quin and then he shook his head and thrust a finger at the weaponry.

"Just shut your godsforsaken mouth and start moving this crap outside."

Somewhere in the back of his frustrated brain, Bishop knew the little squirt was right. He never should've touched her, not after what that drow had done to her.

**xxxxxxxxxx**

When Jaelyn got outside, she took a deep breath of fresh air and then let out a furious scream, her voice echoing through the forest. She swung the sword in her hand at the nearest object, which happened to be a tree. The blade bit deep into the bark, but the tree didn't seem to mind. Unlike most trees they'd come across, this one made no moan of pain or groan of anger. No branch came swinging at her in retaliation. If it was an 'alive' tree, it wasn't bothered by her abuse.

She yanked the sword out and flung it away with a growl. It wasn't good enough hacking into things, it wasn't helping to satisfy her anger. It wasn't a big enough outlet.

Jaelyn drove her fist into the tree trunk, repeatedly. Through the red haze of rage, she only barely registered that it hurt.

Feral twined around her legs in concern and alarm, purring and rubbing against her to try and calm her, but it wasn't helping.

Jaelyn continued hitting the tree until her anger finally gave way to the sorrow beneath.

She dropped against the tree trunk and let out a sob, one full of all the pain and disgust that she had been keeping down. She slid down, pulled her knees up to her chest, wrapped her arms around them and buried her face in them. She cried. She cried hard.

Feral sat beside her and rubbed his face against her arm to comfort her.

_Are you all right?_

She sniffed and rose her head, rubbing the tears from her eyes with her uninjured hand. She then looked at her other hand, at the raw, bleeding skin. She flexed it with a wince and then sighed.

_You shouldn't have done that. You've hurt yourself._

"Better it be myself than someone else."

_Don't feel guilty for hitting him. He deserved it._

She shook her head, solemnly. "No, he didn't. Well, okay, maybe he deserved to be smacked, but he didn't deserve to have an elbow thrown into his face. I overreacted. But...I couldn't help it. After what happened in there, he should've... he just choose the wrong moment to get grabby."

Feral tilted his head to one side and there was a disgusted look on his feline face.

_There's a right moment for him to get grabby?_

Jaelyn gave him a tiny smile. She ran her hand through Feral's fur and the cat-bear pressed into her touch, gratefully.

Jaelyn looked up into the clear sky peeking in between the tree branches above her, a thoughtful expression on her face. Now that she had released some of her anger and sorrow, she reflected on what had happened in that drow prison; not of the things they had done to her, but of the things that had been put to light.

"A lot happened in there." she said to Feral. "I don't think things are going to be the same now."

Feral paused in his rubbing to look at her, sharply. _What do you mean?_

"Some bad things happened to me in there, but there was something else...I think at one point, I admitted to myself that I actually..."

She shook her head, uncertain, even though at the time, she had never been more sure of anything.

"I think I might love him, Feral."

The cat-bear flopped over on the ground, putting his paws over his head in distress.

_You're mad. My poor mistress has lost all sanity._

She smiled slightly and nodded. "Yes, I am aware of that. I've told myself many times that I'd have to be crazy to ever have feelings for him, I've told myself of the consequences that will arise from this, but...I can't help it. I finally realized it all in there, when one of the drow tried to kill him. I had this strong feeling I couldn't ignore...I had to protect him, even if it meant my life in the end. I couldn't let anything happen to him."

_That doesn't mean you love him..._

"Doesn't it? What do you call it, then when you'd do anything for someone?"

_Wouldn't you do the same for the small two-leg?_

"Of course, I would." she replied. "But it's not the same kind of love as that..."

_Why not? It sounds the same to me._

"Because there are other things, other feelings that I don't have for Quin."

The cat-bear looked confused. _Like what?_

Jaelyn flushed and bit her lip in embarrassment. "Well, um...you know that feeling you have when it's mating season?"

Feral had a deep reminiscent look that lasted several moments.

_Oh, yeah. Those were the good old...Wait, you're saying you feel that way toward him? That's disgusting!_

"Well, I wouldn't say it's exactly like that. I mean, it's not as raw and animal as that. No offense. It's not just about the need for physical love. It's deeper, it's a need to be connected...bonded."

She took a breath, feeling her heart hammering in her chest, feeling the deep truth in all she was saying. "I want that...with him."

Jaelyn let out a bitter laugh. "Who am I kidding? It's never going to happen. He's never going to let me in."

Feral got up and sat next to her, pushing his head against her arm. _Then why do you keep trying?_

Jaelyn shook her head, putting her hand over her eyes. She sighed hard, deeply. "Because I'm a fool, that's why."

A loud clinking noise coming from inside the cave made Jaelyn drop her hand from her face. She looked up to see Quin come stumbling out of the mouth of the cave, wrestling with a bunch of swords, out of breath.

He tripped over a blade, stumbled and lost his grip on the rest. They went with a loud ruckus to the ground.

Laughing, Jaelyn got to her feet and went to help Quin gather them all up and then load them on the cart nearby. She then put her hand on his shoulder and sat him down on a small, nearby rock.

"You rest, I'll load the weapons on."

Quin, hands on his knees, tried to catch his breath before he spoke.

"I brought them all up myself. They're in the corridor there. All you have to do is put them on the cart." he said, panting.

Jaelyn nodded, giving Quin's shoulder a pat, and then set about doing it. It didn't take her long to have them all situated on the cart and as she was loading the last weapon, the poorly-damaged lance, she glanced at the cave and then over at Quin.

"What's he doing?"

Quin knew of whom she was speaking. "Down there repacking the explosives to make them safer to move."

"Oh."

She moved toward the cave and then paused. "I'll go help."

"Maybe you shouldn't." Quin said, cautiously.

"Why not?"

"He's, uh...well, he's royally pissed at you at the moment."

She shrugged. "Then I'll apologize."

Quin shook his head. "I don't think that's going to help."

"He can't stay angry about it forever."

"I bet he can."

Jaelyn rolled her eyes. "Let him be angry, then."

"But-"

It was too late. She disappeared into the mouth of the cave.

Quin sighed heavily and looked down at Feral, who came up beside the halfling. Quin dropped his hand down and stroked the cat-bear's fur.

"She's going to get herself killed one of these days."

Meanwhile, Jaelyn found her way through the cave and down a flight of stairs that led to the corridor she had last been in before she'd stormed off.

She found Bishop kneeling in front of a crate, carefully wrapping one of those green glowing orbs in some kind of old linen he must've found laying around somewhere. She could tell by the deep dent in his brow that his focus was fully on the wrapped explosive he was now lowering back into the crate. Though it was likely he knew she was there, she still kept still so she didn't startle him if there was a chance he didn't know.

After a moment, he replaced the top of the crate and glanced up at her briefly and unpleasantly as he straightened up.

She opened her mouth, but he cut her off, angrily.

"Don't bother."

She sighed. "You don't even know what I was going to say."

"And I don't care, either."

She frowned. "Look, I'm just trying to-"

"What part of 'I don't care' don't you understand?"

Jaelyn crossed her arms over her chest. "If you didn't care, you wouldn't be this angry about it."

"How about I elbow you in the face and see how angry you get about it? I don't care what you have to say, so shove off."

Jaelyn shook her head and gave a short laugh. "You really know how to hold a grudge, don't you?"

He ignored her and stepped past her to make his way up the stairs, but Jaelyn wasn't having it. Her hand wrapped around his arm. He turned back with a dangerous look on his face, but she never flinched under it.

She looked up into his eyes. "How would you have expected me to react after what happened to me in there? I was nearly raped, and then you...you had the nerve to...you didn't even consider how your actions might affect me after that. Maybe I overreacted. Maybe I shouldn't have elbowed you in the face like that, but certainly I deserved to smack you. Even still, I'm...apologizing."

Her gaze fell to the split on his lower lip, an inch or so from the corner of his mouth. It was still bleeding, but only slightly.

Jaelyn frowned and reached out to him, cupping his chin in her palm while her thumb brushed across the cut, gently.

Her gaze went back up to his. "I'm sorry I hit you."

Bishop didn't say anything, not that she expected him to. She didn't expect him to accept the apology, either.

He didn't.

After a moment, Bishop viciously slapped her hand away from his face. He had an angry expression, but there was a glitter of confusion in his gaze. To her, it looked like he was trying to decide what to do next. She wondered if it was between hitting her back, insulting her, or just storming off.

Jaelyn studied him closely for a moment, still frowning. He looked terrible. His auburn hair was more of a mess than usual with dried blood matting some of it together on the left side of his head where she'd hit him with that rock, his face was drawn, he looked tired, there was a large bruise high up on his left cheek where Akereth had hit him and now he was sporting a split lip. Even still, it hardly marred his good looks, in her opinion.

Bishop's eyes narrowed under her searching look.

Jaelyn couldn't help the smile that came over her.

"I've got to say, Bishop, you've certainly seen better days."

He snorted derisively. "Yeah, I saw a good number of them before I met you."

Jaelyn rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. "You lousy liar. You didn't seem to be enjoying yourself when we first met at the inn in Port Llast. Besides, you wouldn't have come with us if you weren't bored with how things were."

"If you recall correctly, drow, I signed on with you and the half-man for the gold. What I _didn't_ sign up for was getting stuck on this damn rock, or nearly being hanged by a tree, or getting poisoned or the long list of other unwanted accomplishments I've achieved since arriving here."

"What're you complaining about? You're getting paid. You're getting paid well beyond what you imagined."

"How could you possibly know what I was imagining?"

She laughed briefly. "Oh, so you just thought we'd pay you in a cave of gold and jewels, then?"

"Fine." he said, conceding her point. "But what good is having a fortune if you end up a corpse?"

"You don't look like a corpse to me."

She had a witty insult about him smelling like one, but she kept it to herself.

"Don't try to be funny, drow." he replied, irritably.

She sighed and frowned at him. "Why don't you stop doing that? I have a name and it isn't 'drow'. You'd think by now you'd know what it is."

"Just be glad that's the only thing I call you. I've got a long list of other unpleasant names I could use."

She scoffed. "You're not the only one with a list. And I'm pretty certain mine is longer than yours."

"Yeah, sure." He rolled his eyes. "That's funny, for such a long list, you never use any of the names on it."

"That's because I have manners, unlike you."

"Right, manners. Or maybe you're just too damn afraid to say them."

Jaelyn glared at him. Somewhere deep in the gray mass between her ears she knew Bishop was merely trying to provoke her, but she was too angry to realize it.

"You rotten bastard!"

He shook his head with a smirk. "Heard that one before. My own mother's called me that. Come on, drow, that all you got?"

Her hands curled into fists.

"Stupid, ego-inflated...jackass!"

Bishop scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest. "Now you're not even trying."

"Troll-faced, orc-spawned, half-wit!" Her voice became shrill with anger at the end.

He grinned widely in amusement. "Ah, that was better. I was almost insulted by that."

"Don't you mock me!" she growled at him, her green eyes flaring. "I'm sick and tired of it!"

Bishop shrugged. "Don't give me a reason to, then. If you're done throwing your hissy fit, grab an end of that crate and let's get moving."

Jaelyn huffed indignantly, but she moved around to one side of the crate all the same, taking the handle and waiting for him to get into position on the other side.

They lifted the crate together and began making their way to the surface with it. They took their time going up the flight of stairs, climbing the steps, carefully.

When the two finally made it out of the cave, they found Quin sitting on the back of the cart, his legs swinging over the side with Feral sitting beside him, cleaning himself.

Quin hopped down when he saw them, his face splitting into a large grin. Feral followed suit, pressing himself against the halfling's leg.

"Hey, you're alive!"

Jaelyn gave him a funny look as she and Bishop moved the crate to the back of the cart, sitting it gently beside the stack of weapons.

She stood back from it with a sigh of relief, glad to finally have them off her hands, and then turned to Quin. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Oh, you know..." the halfling replied and nodded his head at the ranger. "And, well, there's the explosives, too. But you're okay, so...now we just have to make it back to the village in one piece."

Jaelyn nodded and looked over at Bishop, her face creasing with a frown. "Are you sure they're safe to transport? This cart's going to be bumpy." Her voice held a rough edge.

He shrugged. "Should be. They're wrapped in thick cloth and straw, so as long as the crate stays put and doesn't fall or get hit or something, we should make it back in one piece. Then again, with our luck..." He ended the sentence with another shrug.

Jaelyn sighed. "Well, let's get moving then...carefully."

She looked at Quin, then reached down, lifting him up under his arms.

"Hey! What the-"

Jaelyn put him on the back of the cart. "You sit back here and make sure that crate stays still."

Quin looked at her, frowning slightly. "You could've just asked, you know. There's no need man-handling me."

She grinned and ruffled his hair, playfully. Quin groaned, slapped her hands away and raked his fingers through his sandy-blond hair, trying to straighten it back up. Feral leaped up into his lap and began purring when Quin's hand rubbed along his neck and behind his ears.

Jaelyn moved to one side of the cart while Bishop stood on the other. The cart had four rickety wheels and two handles sticking out in front of it. They both took one of the handles.

"Hang on back there!" Jaelyn called to Quin in caution.

The halfling moved so his back was leaning up against the crate, pressing and holding it to the back of the cart, which was raised up to generally keep things from sliding off.

"All good back here!" Quin announced when he was settled in.

With that, they set off, both rangers slowly pulling the cart along as they made for their camp and the natives.

Jaelyn never once looked back. She was all too happy to be leaving that place. However, she knew memories, unlike places, weren't so easily left behind. One couldn't just get up and walk way from them and never see them again. She knew that somehow she was going to have to learn to live with them.


	28. Chapter 28: Madness

**xxxxxx**

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-Eight:**

**Madness**

**xxxxxx**

**The** trio and their cart full of weapons and explosives didn't make it back to the camp until well after nightfall.

Both rangers were near exhaustion when they finally saw the glow of a campfire. Neither of them had gotten any sleep while they were imprisoned and neither had gotten a chance to fully rest after escaping. Now they had just hauled a heavy cart ten miles, only taking a break when one of them looked like they weren't going to make it.

They paused for a moment to catch their breath. In the quiet of the forest, they could hear the snores coming from behind the cart. Quin had slept most of the way with Feral.

Bishop looked over his shoulder with a scowl, wiping sweat from his forehead with his arm.

"Useless half-man." he grumbled, derisively.

Jaelyn said nothing. She merely gave him a mild look and then turned her gaze toward the tiny orange light glowing between the trees some ways ahead of them.

Bishop was a little surprised by her lack of comment. She usually had something to say. In fact, now that it came to mind, she hadn't spoken a word since they left that place.

Normally, he wouldn't have been bothered by the silence, but this quiet was strange; there was tension underlying it, but it wasn't any tension between them. It all came from her.

Her face was blank, showing no signs whatsoever that anything was wrong, but he knew how easy it was to mask expressions; he was an expert at it. The expression of the eyes, however, were not so easily hidden from someone who knew how to read them, and he was an expert at that as well. As he studied and watched those pale green eyes of hers, it was apparent that she was troubled, upset.

Of course, he knew it was that drow's attack on her that was troubling her. Personally, he thought she was overreacting a bit. It wasn't like the drow had actually done anything, or at least he hadn't gotten to do what he intended to do. Bishop knew better than to say that out loud, though. Something like that was liable to get him another split lip, or worse if he didn't see it coming again.

He opened his mouth to tell her to quit dwelling on it, to get over it and move on but the words never made it out as he noticed her hand, the one gripping the cart handle. The skin on her knuckles was split, raw, and covered in dried blood. The hand was also a bit swollen.

Something else came out of his mouth, of its own accord.

"What happened to your hand, drow?"

She looked at him with the type of expression you see on someone who's been caught red-handed, so to speak. Then her face turned solemn, her eyes narrowing slightly.

"What do you care?"

He scowled and shrugged, not willing to dignify that with an answer.

Jaelyn sighed. "I fell, all right? That's all."

He knew she was lying and for some reason, it bothered him.

His gaze went back into the forest. When he spoke his voice was as cold as a glacier. "Fine. Forget I even asked."

His tone made Jaelyn look over at him, a pang of guilt in her gut.

"Bishop-"

"Let's go." he cut her off, roughly. "I'm sick of standing around."

Jaelyn didn't argue any further. She didn't have the emotional or physical strength for it.

They continued on again, pulling the cart behind them, the wooden wheels crunching through the brush and foliage, and the cart itself rattling along.

After several moments of their silence, Bishop spoke again.

"You better put something on it, otherwise, if it gets infected, you won't be able to use your bow." he said in a scolding manner and then made sure to add, "And last thing we need is someone else who can't use a weapon."

She looked at him in surprise, but found him still staring ahead, purposely avoiding her gaze. She smiled slightly.

"All right, I'll take care of it."

He shrugged, coldly. "Do what you want. Doesn't matter to me. I just thought I'd warn you."

Jaelyn sighed. It seemed that no matter what she did, it always pushed him away. She could be nice and considerate and it pushed him away; she could be aggressive and brave and it pushed him away. She was really getting sick of it; she was sick of everything.

She was tired, humiliated and ashamed; she was disgusted and felt disgusting, but mostly she was angry, so angry with it all, with everything that had happened. She was angry at herself, at the drow, at Bishop and Quin, at everything. She wanted to retreat into herself and never come out again.

And in her emotional turmoil, she lashed out at Bishop.

"Oh? Well, when I want your opinion, I'll ask for it." she snarled at him. "Until then, why don't you just go fuck yourself?"

Bishop stared at her, a brow raised. His face was blank for a few moments and then he cracked a menacing grin, his eyes glittering with amusement.

"Now, why would I do that when I've got you here to do it for me?"

Her eyes widened and the harsh, red veil of rage dropped over them. Her green eyes seemed to glow red from within, a common trait of the drow when they were angered.

With a swift move, she pulled one of the swords from the back of the cart and then hurled herself at him, the blade leading the way.

The ranger noted that she at least did that right. However, she was gripping the sword wrong, her stance was off and she was no where near focused enough to defend herself.

His sword came out of its sheath in a flash. He threw it up easily to parry her attack and then whirled their blades together, using the momentum to disarm her. She let out a thwarted gasp as her sword flew out of her hands, landing on the ground some ways from her.

Jaelyn's eyes darted between her weapon and Bishop. Her hands clenched into fists and she stood there, trembling in anger. She looked ready to explode.

The drow was lucky she was only attacking him. Had he been someone who wished her harm, a true enemy, her little attack would've gotten her killed.

Wait...

Bishop almost laughed at the thought, how easily it came.

Had he been someone who wished her harm, a true enemy...?

What was he thinking? He wasn't above hurting anyone.

Had he been someone who wished her harm.

_Absurd. Madness. This has to stop._

And yet even in his sudden frustration, he did something uncharacteristic of himself. He didn't know whether he did it out of annoyance with her inability to wield a sword properly or something else, but he thrust the point of his sword in the direction her own lay.

His expression was hard and business-like, but his eyes still held that expression of frustration; they were slightly narrowed, gleaming with anger.

"Pick it up." he demanded and here his face darkened dangerously, knowing she would dare to defy him, and then added before she could react "Do it, or I'll make you sorry."

Jaelyn stared at him and the defiance was there as always, but the red glowing rage in her eyes had dissipated somewhat. She looked between him and the sword again and remained standing there.

Bishop sneered at her and took a step toward her, his grip on his sword tightening a bit out of reflex. As much as she did it, he was still not completely used to her defiance. Sometimes it irritated him, other times he found it amusing; right now, it was pissing him off.

"Don't try me." he growled.

Jaelyn stood there a moment longer, glaring at him and then, remembering how easily he had disarmed her, she stomped over to where her sword had landed and picked it up, growling through her teeth.

Bishop marked a line in the dirt a few feet away from him with the point of his sword. "Stand there."

Jaelyn frowned, unsure of what he was up to, but she had no desire to test him again, seeing that angry, dark look on his face that promised pain, and she knew she didn't stand a chance fighting him with a sword.

She moved up to where he indicated, standing there with the sword at her side, staring at him in confusion.

"Lift it." he nodded his head at the sword.

Jaelyn, her brows furrowed, brought the sword up with both hands.

Bishop shook his head. "You've got a habit of holding the sword with two hands. Nothing wrong with that, but your hands are far too close together on the grip."

He stepped up to her side and held out his own sword, showing her where and how his hands gripped it. Then he looked at her expectantly, waiting for her to follow his example.

Jaelyn only looked at him a moment, surprised by this behavior he was exhibiting, but when his face started contorting with impatience and annoyance, she moved her hands so her right held the grip near the guard and her left held near the bottom. "Like this?"

He inclined his head. "Right. Keep your grip loose, but not too loose. Don't lock your elbows. And keep the sword's point up. Good. Feels balanced now, doesn't it?"

She couldn't deny the truth in that. Just that difference in her hands made the entire sword feel level and even.

"It does."

He went back to where he'd been standing before and turned to her to get a good look at her form. "Now, make like you're going to attack me."

Jaelyn turned, still holding the sword as he had showed her and then took on her attack stance.

He noted how her shoulders hunched together and went tight, how her grip on the weapon tightened, her knees were locked and her feet were far too close together, all clear mistakes.

Bishop sighed in exasperation. "You really haven't ever used a sword before, have you?"

Jaelyn straightened up and frowned at him. "Oh, shut up. I'm sure there are certain things you've never done before, either. So, don't make fun of me."

He shook his head. "Your stance is terrible."

"Oh, thank y-" she began in an acidic tone but didn't get to finish.

"Shut up and listen." he snapped. "Stand like your using your bow. Put your left foot straight out in front and your right behind and sideways; keep them both shoulder-width apart."

Jaelyn did as she was told, remembering to keep the correct grip on the sword.

"Right. Now relax. Don't lock your knees; bend them a bit, and keep your upper body loose, your back straight and your head up."

She adopted the stance as he explained it and he watched her closely, noted how naturally it came to her, how she seemed comfortable in it. He supposed it was because the stance was similar to the one used with a bow.

"Now, attack me." he said. "Move your feet first; don't advance with your body. When you swing, swing with your body not just with your arms; you put more force into your attack that way."

Jaelyn advanced toward him, feet moving first and fast over the ground. When she got within striking distance, she pulled the weapon back with both hands and then swung forward with her upper body. Bishop brought his sword up to parry and their blades met with a loud, metallic clang.

His eyes widened slightly in surprise at the force behind her attack. He hadn't expected such strength from so small a frame. He lowered his blade from hers, trying to ignore the tingling feeling in his sword arm.

"Not bad...for an amateur."

She smirked up at him. "By that look I saw on your face moments ago, I think I did better than 'not bad'."

"Don't get cocky." he replied, roughly, sheathing his sword.

It seemed her lesson was over.

Jaelyn found herself disappointed. She was having fun with him, but as usual, he was the one that brought it to an end. Well, at least she could be grateful that it didn't end in an argument.

He grabbed onto the cart's handle and after placing the sword back with the others, Jaelyn followed suit. They were soon moving onward toward the camp again.

Just before they got to it, Jaelyn turned her head and looked at the ranger, determination written into her sharp, elven features.

"Will you teach me more?"

He glanced at her. "Depends."

She sighed hard in exasperation, knowing she shouldn't even bother asking, but she did anyway.

"On what?"

She waited for it, the usual sexual proposition this line of conversation led to.

It never came.

"On whether or not you can handle it." he said and was about to continue when she cut him off.

"What?" she blurted, shocked beyond belief that there was no risque offer, no sexual innuendos. Who was she talking to? The man on the other side of the cart _looked_ like Bishop, but he certainly didn't sound like him.

He gave her a serious look. "If you want me to teach you, you're going to learn my way. That means no going easy on you just because you're a girl. You'll be pushed to your limits and beyond, you'll sweat and bleed and know pain. You up for that?"

Jaelyn nodded, her mind set. "I am. But..."

She paused, biting her lip, wondering if she should ask her question. She might have left well enough alone, but her curiosity got the better of her, as it usually did around this man.

"Why are you...I mean, I'm not ungrateful or anything, but I'm just curious as to why you would agree to teach me so easily and yet you still don't want to teach the natives."

"Simple." he replied. "You've got potential. They don't."

Jaelyn was genuinely shocked by his response. She had...potential? Was that a compliment? From _him_?

_All right, seriously, where did Bishop go? This is not like him_, she thought.

"Potential?"

Bishop didn't look at her when he spoke. He was staring ahead, watching the glow of the campfire draw closer and closer. There was also a different smell in the air as they got closer, like roasting meat. The ranger's stomach gave a desperate, hungry growl.

"You're a fast learner. I only had to show you how to do all that once and you executed it almost perfectly. It seems swordplay comes natural to you."

"And you'll really teach me? This isn't some kind of joke?"

"Like I said, I'll teach you if you can handle it."

"I can handle it." she replied, resolutely. "When do we start?"

He looked at her finally and smirked. "As soon as we get to camp."

Jaelyn nodded and it seemed her enthusiasm with learning gave her the energy to pull the cart faster.

They made it to camp before they knew it.

The natives were all huddled together around the campfire, where a large deer had been strapped to a makeshift spit over the flames. Some of them were asleep, others were still in the midst of their meals. Akereth sat among them with the infant drow, Baeylene in his arms. He was feeding her from the bottle that he, Jaelyn and Quin had constructed out of a water-skin. There was silence among them, broken only by the sound of the approaching cart.

Akereth was the first to look up. He hurriedly passed the child off to the native man sitting next to him and got to his feet to make his way over to them.

His concerned, sapphire gaze was on Jaelyn. He didn't even seem to notice Bishop, who was giving him such a hateful look one would only find in the very depths of the Abyss.

The native reached out and put his hands on Jaelyn's shoulders.

Bishop fought off the acidic bite of jealousy and the nearly undeniable urge to rip the native's hands off.

What was this crap? What was he so jealous about? And why in the hells, if he wanted to hurt him, was he holding back? When had he ever kept himself from killing anyone? He had never tried to keep himself from doing it before, so why now?

His hand made its way around the grip of his sword as he watched them, darkly.

"Are you all right?" Akereth inquired to Jaelyn, using the drow language to commune with her. "Your animal friend came to the camp and led Quin away. He left with a worried look on his face, so I figured something must've happened."

Jaelyn nodded. "Bishop and I were captured by the drow."

Akereth's eyes widened and he looked her over carefully, as if he were searching her for wounds and then met her gaze again. "Captured? Are you all right? Did they hurt you?"

Jaelyn noted the anger that had crept in his voice and furrowed his brow. She quickly shook her head, deciding it was better if he didn't know about what had happened to her during her imprisonment.

"No, I'm fine."

Akereth looked thoroughly relieved and he, to her surprise, pulled her into an embrace. "Thank the island. I'm glad you're all right."

Oh, no. That wouldn't do at all.

Bishop's already unstable temper flared and in the red haze of fury, he didn't care what consequences his actions would bring. He only knew that if he could never allow himself to sate his desires for her, he would sate the ones that wanted Akereth dead.

And to the hells with his sword. He was going to kill the bastard with his bare hands.

He stepped up to them and roughly thrust them apart, his inflamed gaze narrowed on Akereth, who met his look with almost the same amount of hostility.

Jaelyn stumbled back, looking between the two men in surprise, and then the realization of what was about to happen sank in. She jumped forward to stop it, but she was too slow.

Bishop grabbed Akereth by the front of his crude, soft leather tunic with one hand and slammed his fist into his face with the other.

He let Akereth go the moment the blow landed and the native stumbled back from the force, his cheek splitting open in a wound that matched the one on Bishop's face. The ranger clenched and unclenched his blood-stained hand, letting out a vicious growl of something between rage and pain.

"Stop it!" Jaelyn cried at them in desperation. "That's enough!"

But both men were beyond listening. In fact, neither one of them even registered her voice.

Akereth ran his hand over his cheek, smearing the blood running down it. He glared at his red hand and then his eyes shot up at Bishop, narrowing.

In a move Bishop anticipated, Akereth barreled on him, a cry of rage coming out of his mouth. Bishop ducked down the moment the native got to him and when they came together, his shoulder going up into Akereth's midsection, he used the momentum of Akereth's advance to flip him over his shoulder. The native landed hard behind him with a pained groan. Bishop strode up to Akereth while he struggled to focus himself and pressed his boot down hard onto his throat, sneering at him.

"That's the last time." he growled at him, his voice low. "That's the last time you touch her. She's mi-"

He shut his mouth so violently he almost bit his tongue off. The words he nearly uttered resounded off of the walls of his mind.

_She's mine._

Dear, gods. What in the hells was happening to him?

He was protecting her, offering to teach her and now claiming possession over her? He'd laid claim over her purity once, but that hadn't been what he was thinking about when those words were on his lips. It had been something else, something more. It was everything, all of her.

_Damn it to the hells!_

He was going mad. That had to be it. He'd finally lost his damn marbles.

Her hand touched his arm and he jerked slightly, his head snapping around to her. Her lovely green eyes stared into his golden ones and there was a desperate plea in them, a plea that crept inside him in his moment of weakness.

Jaelyn shook her head, her brows drawing together. "Please, don't do this."

She began pulling him away from Akereth and he was utterly shocked to find himself letting her.

_What're you doing? Get a grip! You really going to let her get to you like this? Fight back, idiot!_

The sharp, angry voice yelling in the back of his head was enough to cut through his shock and weakness.

He tore away from her and in a furious voice, he said "Get your fucking hands off me, you bitch!"

Then she was staring at his back as he stormed off into the woods, hurt, shocked, and confused by his behavior.

For a long time, she stood there, staring in the direction Bishop had disappeared, then she turned and made her way to Akereth, who had sat up some time ago, holding his hand over his bleeding cheek and rubbing at his throat.

Jaelyn knelt down beside him, rummaged through the pouch on her belt and produced a small healing potion and a little swab of bandaging cloth. She looked at it a moment and then shrugged. So much for healing her hand.

She poured the potion onto the cloth and then dabbed gently at his wound.

Akereth winced and hissed through his teeth.

Jaelyn did not look at him when she spoke. "Don't anger him again, or it'll be the last thing you ever do."

The native lifted his eyes to hers, though she refused to meet them.

"You think I can't handle him." It wasn't a question.

She wasn't going to lie to him. "I _know_ you can't. I don't know what happened to him moments ago, but it saved your life. Stay away from him, Akereth."

He scoffed indignantly. "Despite what you think, I _can_ handle him. I have before."

"You caught him off guard, Akereth, something that rarely happens. I think the only reason why it happened was because he had never even noticed you before, at least not as any threat. He's noticed you now; you would never stand a chance against him." she replied. "Leave him alone."

Akereth shook his head, frowning. There was a degree of hurt in his gaze.

"So, this is what you think of me, then; a weakling, who can't defend himself against one man?"

Jaelyn sighed in exasperation. "I don't think you're a weakling. It's just that I've seen Bishop fight, and when he's angry, he doesn't fight like one man. He fights like an army of men. He killed three drow while chained to the floor. I'm not telling you this because I think you're a weakling. I'm telling you this because I don't want to see you get killed."

**xxxxxxxxxx**

Bishop slipped gracefully through the forest undergrowth, his steps hardly making a sound. The only sound that could be heard from him was the subtle, soft creaking of his leather armor with almost every carefully placed step he took.

His stance and pace gave away nothing of the anger boiling inside him, but his hands were clenched so tight into fists that the knuckles went white. One hand was still stained in the native's blood. The expression on his face was far from pleasant and his golden eyes burned in the darkness.

He had no particular destination in mind; he merely wanted to get away from the camp, away from the native and her. He was hoping the walk and the solitude would help clear his head.

He was sick and tired of the drow and how she kept trying to worm her way inside him. He was sick and tired of doing things beyond his character on behalf of her.

He wanted that native dead, yet he let the drow stop him, he let her pull him away. How ridiculous was that? How ludicrous!

Well, he supposed that it probably wouldn't have been wise to kill the native in front of all the others. But one of these days, he was going to get that bastard alone and when he did, the native was as good as dead. As long as no one saw him do it, he could get away with it; they would all expect it to be a drow attack.

But none of that really helped his current problem.

Why was the drow getting to him?

They'd been around each other too much, that had to be it. He needed to be in the presence of other females and then he wouldn't be doing these things, then he wouldn't be feeling like this.

_Time to get laid. That'll clear up this madness. At least, it better._

Bishop leaned back against a tree and closed his eyes on a tired sigh.

The sooner they got back to the village, the better. He could hardly believe how much he wished he was there right now, despite his loathing of the place. But it sure as the hells beat having to be around her, even if he did enjoy her company sometimes.

_Madness._

Of all the things that should've been simple to deal with it, for him, it ends up being the hardest. Lying? Child's play. Cheating? Couldn't be any easier. Killing? A cinch. But dealing with a lovely half-drow hell-bent on learning what makes him tick and all the frustrating desires and emotions she was eliciting from him? It was becoming the struggle of his life, and a real nuisance if there ever was one.

Damn drow. Well, he'd fix her good. As soon as he got back to camp, he was going to train her until she collapsed, since she was so keen on learning. Maybe he'd train her the way he'd been trained in the Luskan army. No mercy for weakness; you collapse out of exhaustion, you get kicked while you're down, and then forced into even more strenuous drills, repeating them constantly until you feared your mind and body would break apart.

He hated Luskan, but one thing he had to admit about it, the time he'd spent in their army had made him into a tough warrior and that toughness was one of the reasons he was still alive. But he never would've gone to Luskan if it hadn't been for that bastard he reluctantly called a mentor, the burly hunter from his home village, who had taught him everything he knew about tracking, hunting, killing and surviving. No matter how much he hated Luskan, he hated that man more, but he also owed a great deal to him.

Those had been the worst years of Bishop's life, in service to that worthless drunk. He had been sold to the man at the age of thirteen by the nightmare of an orphanage he'd grown up in. He'd been nothing more than a slave to the man for a good portion of his life, forced into menial labor with seemingly no escape from it all in sight. Sometimes, though, when his mentor's back was turned, he'd escape into the woods surrounding the village, desperately seeking respite from a life he hated. And every time, the bastard would find him, drag him back and beat the hells out of him for leaving. It didn't stop Bishop from doing it, however; that forest had become his place of peace, of refuge. Those moments in the wilds, where it seemed nothing could touch him, nothing could hurt him, they were worth the beatings.

It was when the bastard had offered him the skinning knife that he sought the impossible, the escape from the servitude forced upon him.

The hunter, whose name Bishop had never known, had offered the bone-handled knife to him after a close call with a wolf in the woods behind the village. He had narrowly escaped with his life and he still had the scar to prove it, a nasty one on the back of his right calf where the wolf had ripped out a chunk of flesh with its teeth. His mentor had been there in the nick of time, putting an arrow between the wolf's eyes. Then, later that night, drunk out of his mind, he gave him the knife.

"Defend yourself with it, boy. It ain't just a tool, it's also a weapon." he'd said. "Won't do for you to get killed. You cost me a good deal of gold, ya know."

The words still rang clear in Bishop's mind, as if they had only been spoken to him yesterday. And with good reason did those words stay with him; after all, it was a defining moment in his life.

Defended himself, he did.

He saw it as his only chance of escape and he had known the moment his fingers closed around the handle of the knife what he was meant to do with it.

He stabbed his mentor in the leg, yanked it out and fled in the man's moment of weakness. Despite the injury he'd received from the wolf, he had never ran so fast in his life. The hells might as well have been at his back.

He had run until he collapsed out of pain and exhaustion and even then, he crawled onward, forced himself to keep moving because he knew without a doubt that the bastard would come after him and it would be no difficult task to track him down.

Sheer terror had kept him moving; he didn't want to know what the man planned to do to him if he caught him.

But he did catch him. It took him three days, but he finally found him hiding out in a cave.

Bishop had been surprised by his reaction. At first, the man looked like he was going to throttle the life out of him and then he just grinned.

"Well, that was impressive, boy. There's hope for you, after all." he'd said.

After that, they had come to an agreement. He would train him along the ranger's path if he swore never to escape again.

Bishop kept his word...until the training was done.

The incident with the knife had taught him something, that if he ever wanted to free himself, he was going to have to do so by force. So, it happened the day after his training was complete. He freed himself.

In a cheerless celebration of him becoming a full-fledged ranger, Bishop had gotten his mentor drunk, which was no hard task given the man's love for hard liquor, and when he passed out, Bishop slit his throat with the knife he had given him. It had been his first human kill and he never once regretted it. No, the only thing he regretted was not cutting the bastard's throat sooner.

He had been nineteen, then, and although only ten years had passed between then and now, it seemed like a lifetime.

Bishop blinked open his eyes, staring up at the night sky through the tree limbs.

Why was he tripping down memory lane? He hadn't thought about his old mentor in a long time. Well, it sure as the hells beat thinking about her.

His anger had diminished somewhat and his mind had cleared up a bit. He felt a little better, enough so that he could go back to camp now and perhaps not kill anyone.

He pushed himself away from the tree and turned back in the direction he'd come from, heading for the orange glow between the trees.

When he finally made it to camp, he found the drow and the half-man sitting around the fire with the natives, getting ready to take their meal for the night.

Bishop had other plans for the drow, however.

He strode up behind her, ignoring the fuming look Akereth was giving him and grabbed the hunk of roasted deer meat she was just about to bite into. He tossed it into the fire, disturbing the flames, which flared around the meat and billowed upward.

"Hey!" Jaelyn protested, glaring up at him. "I was going to eat that, you know!"

He smirked down at her, folding his arms over his chest. "Trust me, drow. You don't want to train on a full stomach."

"Train?" she inquired, her voice nearing a whine. "Now?"

"Yes, now. I told you it starts as soon as we got to camp."

"But I'm beat. Can't we start in the morning?"

"There won't be time. It's now or never."

Jaelyn sighed and slowly got to her feet, wiping her greasy hands on the legs of her trousers. "All right, then."

"Good. Get a weapon. I'll be waiting over here."

Jaelyn nodded and hurried over to the cart, pulling out the sword she'd had before and then came back over to him, eager to begin, despite her fatigue.

"Right, then. Pay attention..." he said and began going over some simple sword fighting techniques, demonstrating them afterward and then watching her closely as she tried them out, noting where she left herself open for attack, which would need to be addressed later.

As he had seen before, she was a quick learner and within an hour she already had the basics down and performed the techniques he showed her impressively. It would take time and practice, but she could easily become as good as him. The unfortunate part was that they wouldn't have the time if he was going to have to train the useless natives. It was a pity, really. He kind of liked teaching her. She listened and obeyed, and despite the tiring crap they had been through recently, she didn't seem to want to quit. She was eager to learn from him.

They continued the training for another hour.

The natives watched them with interest. At first, they had thought the two were having a fight, but Akereth assured them that everything was fine. Jaelyn was smiling with something akin to joy while she trained with the ranger. Akereth hadn't seen her smile like that in a while, not since they had danced after she had gotten her warrior tattoos.

It hurt and enraged Akereth at the same time to see her smile at him like that, and every so often that bastard would smile back and there would be that strange glint in his eyes, the same glint Akereth had seen when the ranger watched her fight Grimnar. It was a greedy look, like she was the diamond among cheap gemstones. Perhaps the ranger saw what Akereth did, that she was something wonderful and rare. He'd be a fool not to see it. Well, Akereth had already determined that this man was the king of all fools. He denied her, this beautiful creature who'd no doubt do anything for him. If he looked at her like this, then there was something there; there had to be some kind of feelings for her, and he had to know that she felt something for him. It didn't take a prophet to see that she did. So, despite his hatred for Bishop, Akereth still had to wonder what his problem was, the blasted idiot.

He didn't deserve her, he didn't deserve her attention. And Akereth was beginning to think that Jaelyn may be as much of a fool as the ranger, pining over someone who'll never return her feelings when Akereth was there, willing to do anything to be with her. Funny, the same could be said for him. Love seemed to have a habit of turning people into idiots.

But Akereth was through being a fool. He was through with standing by and doing nothing. As soon as they returned to the village, Akereth was going to set his plan into motion. He had spent a good portion of their time waiting around coming up with one and he had a good feeling about it. When it was finished, Jaelyn would never look at the ranger the same again.

The sound of sweet, airy laughter brought Akereth out of his dark musings and he lifted his head, staring in the direction of Jaelyn and Bishop.

It seemed the drow had accidentally sliced a hole in the ranger's armor, for she was standing there with her sword at her side, grinning and Bishop was staring down in surprise at the tear in the side of his leather tunic, near the hip. He finally looked up at her with a slight peeved expression.

"I hope you know how to sew, drow."

Jaelyn never lost her grin. "I got a needle and thread in my pack. I'll fix it later. Let's go, once more."

He only nodded, lifting his blade up. Jaelyn swung hers at him and he parried it easily and then struck a riposte. She brought her sword up to block the attack without moving and almost got knocked off her feet. She stumbled back a bit and quickly regained her balance, but at the same time, Bishop gave her thigh a swift smack with the flat of his blade, making her gasp sharply.

"Keep moving your feet, drow, or you'll get knocked off of them. If that happens in a fight, you're dead. Always move your feet, no matter what. Remember that next time."

Jaelyn rubbed her leg where he'd smacked her, more out of surprise than actual pain. "Couldn't you have gotten your point across without smacking me like that?"

He shrugged. "Maybe, but I wanted to make sure I had your attention. Now, sword up. You need to practice parrying. Let's see if you can keep up."

Bishop came forward with a simple swing of his sword. Jaelyn brought hers up to meet it, forgetting to drop back to absorb the force behind his attack. She stumbled a bit.

"Move your feet!" he barked at her, swinging at her again.

She was going to get it right; he was going to make sure she got it right.

Jaelyn yelped in surprise and danced back a few steps, only barely getting her sword up in time to block his. This time, however, those few steps backward helped her sustain herself against his force.

They continued that for half an hour, him attacking her and her parrying every blow. Jaelyn had soon gotten her feet into a rhythm of movement and Bishop took note of the change, increasing the power and speed of his attacks to see how much she could handle. By the end, he was quite surprised and impressed by how well she kept up with him.

His final attack was a surprise combination that caught her completely off guard. She parried the first two moves of the combination but on the last, a low swing, she went wide-eyed and fumbled to block low. Their blades connected, but her body was twisted in such an awkward position that all he had to do was push back on her blade a bit and she fell over on her back in the dirt.

Jaelyn lay there, breathing hard from exertion, her hand still gripping her sword. Bishop sheathed his own and stood over her, smirking.

"Not too bad." he commented, casually. "I think the message got through this time."

She sat up on her elbows, staring up at him with her head slightly tilted to the side. Her thick bangs obscured the left side of her face and a good portion of her hair was draped over a shoulder. Her mouth curved into a smile and his breath locked in his throat.

Gods, how he wanted her, how he wanted to take her there in the dirt, touch her, run his fingers through her hair...kiss her, definitely kiss her. Of all the desires that ran through him, it was that one that flowed strongest.

Her brows creased a bit in a puzzled expression. "What?"

He shook his head and breathed again. "Hnh?"

Jaelyn laughed. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Bishop looked away and frowned. "You've still got a long ways to go yet, drow. But we're done for now."

Jaelyn blinked and then nodded. She moved to stand, but he stepped forward and took her arm to help her up.

She stared at him in surprise to the kind gesture and then smiled.

"Thanks."

He only offered a noncommittal grunt and then strode over to the campfire. Jaelyn followed, making her way over to Baeylene, who was sleeping soundly in the arms of one of the native men. She leaned over the baby girl and smiled widely, reaching out a finger to stroke her soft, cherub-like cheeks. The baby was dribbling in her sleep, but Jaelyn found even that to be almost too adorable to bear.

After admiring and cooing softly over the infant, Jaelyn went to her pack and pulled out a small crude sewing kit. She then went over to where the ranger was sitting before the fire, biting off a piece of meat from the hunk of roasted deer he had impaled on a stick. She sat next to him and opened the little leather pouch that held her needle and thread. Bishop watched her as she threaded the needle and looped a knot at the end of the thread, then she turned to him, looking down at the hole in his tunic. He moved to pull the garment over his head, but she stopped him.

"No need. I can sew it with it on."

He merely shrugged in reply and went back to eating.

Besides, she knew she'd only gape at him like an idiot if he took it off.

Jaelyn's mouth went dry just at the mere thought of seeing him bare-chested again; all that hard muscle, all the wondrous scars that marred him, and the smooth skin in between.

She forced the image out of her head and reached down to the severed fabric, pulling it taut so her stitches came out straight or at least as straight as possible.

At their close proximity, his earthy scent invaded her senses, mingled in now with the smell of roasted deer, all of which made her lightheaded for a moment.

She made her first stitch and looked up at him, her breath struggling to free itself from her throat.

The firelight danced on his face, smoothed out the rough edges and the lines of his frown. It glowed in his eyes, turning them into a warm amber; the fire seemed to have melted away any traces of the coldness usually found in those brilliant eyes. He was terribly beautiful, terribly dangerous and terribly real.

Jaelyn moved closer to him. The movement caused Bishop to turn his head toward her, their gazes meeting, and the shadows fell over his face once again; the coldness in his eyes returned.

Jaelyn shook her head, realizing her mistake.

_An illusion_, she told herself. _A trick of the light, nothing more. Just a trick of the light. Behind the illusion is still the cold man that refuses you._

She bit her lip and lowered her head, fighting off the moist burn in her eyes as she went about her task.

Bishop rose a questioning brow, but left well enough alone. He looked back into the fire, but for some reason unknown to him, he'd suddenly lost his appetite.

He was about to toss the unfinished meal into the fire, but caught Feral staring at him from where he was curled up next to a sleeping Quin. The cat-bear gave a small pleading whine and the ranger rolled his eyes.

"Fine." he conceded.

Bishop tossed the meat over to Feral, who pounced on it without hesitation, gobbling it up in one bite.

He shook his head. "That damn thing eats like a bear."

Jaelyn chuckled. "Yes, I'm sure Feral has bear in his heritage somewhere. He kind of looks like one, after all."

There was a brief moment of silence and then she spoke up again.

"And speaking of animal companions, " she said conversationally. "I remember you saying once that you have one..."

"So I do." he replied simply, not taking her bait. She left the conversation open-ended for him to fill in the rest, but he wasn't stupid. He caught on quick to her trickery.

It really wasn't like his animal companion was some big secret or even something he intentionally kept secret. He just didn't like how she went about trying to get him to talk. It was too much like that night, when she lured him into her trap to get him to admit he had feelings for her. He didn't like that; he didn't like traps unless he was the one setting them.

At his silence, she looked up at him. "Well?"

"Well what?"

She sighed. "Will you tell me about your companion?"

He stared at her.

No beating around the bush this time, he noted. There was no subtle trickery; she got to the point and she had asked him, not insisted. He approved of this method.

"His name's Karnwyr, a gray wolf."

Jaelyn smiled while she continued sewing the hole. "That doesn't surprise me a bit. A wolf companion suits you. Where did you meet him?"

He snorted. "I've had him since he was a pup. Raised and trained him myself. That's all you need to know."

"Fair enough." she said. "Hopefully I'll get to meet him one day."

"That's not going to happen."

Jaelyn frowned. "Why do you say that?"

"'Cause we'll be going our separate ways once we get back to the mainland. If we ever do."

At those words, Jaelyn felt a painful stab of hurt and panic in her gut and she looked up at him, frowning deeply. "But..._why_?"

He met her gaze with a cool, nonchalant expression.

"I got what I wanted out of this. No reason to stick around anymore."

"Oh." was all she could manage to say.

She looked back down at her hands, which were sewing in the final few stitches.

What had she expected, that he would be with her and Quin forever? He had signed on with them for the gold, that was it. She knew that. Yet she had still felt a lingering hope that maybe he would stay for another reason. Maybe he would stay for her.

_Foolishness. Why would you think he'd stay for you when he doesn't care about you? You're an idiot._

Jaelyn ignored the voice and finished the final stitch, tying another knot. She bent her head down and severed the string with her teeth.

For that brief moment, her hair brushed against his arm and he stared down at her, desperately fighting the urge to touch it, to sink his hands into those sheer white locks, to drag her up against him and kiss her with all the fiery passion he possessed.

He quickly averted his gaze when she rose up.

"There." she announced, forcing a smile. "All done."

"Good." he replied, gruffly. "It's about time."

He got to his feet and made his way toward the forest.

"Where are you going?" Jaelyn called after him.

He turned slightly, looking over his shoulder at her with a brow quirked and a grin spreading across his face.

"To take a piss." he called back. "Want to come watch?"

Jaelyn made a face at him and then, with a small laugh, she grabbed at the nearest object and launched it at him.

The small stone bounced near his foot. He merely scoffed at it and disappeared into the forest to relieve himself and then to wash up at the nearby stream.

When he returned to camp, he found the drow curled up on her bedroll in front of the fire. He went back to sit at his spot beside her and looked down at her to find her eyes closed, her cheek resting on her hand. Her deep breathing told him that she had fallen asleep.

Bishop watched her for a while, watched the dying fire flicker across her face, and then, unable to help himself, he reached out and his fingers brushed her hair across her forehead. They slipped down her temple and gently stroked her cheek. Her skin was so soft, so delicate. Everything about her was so feminine, so real, pure, and good. So beautiful.

He reluctantly pulled his hand away, letting out a soft, quivering sigh.

It felt like his insides had all gathered up into a tight ball and his mind was a confused and frustrated mess, but those things were nothing compared to the ache inside him, the ache that seemed to come from the very depths of his soul. It was an ache that came with a desperate need, a need to feel and be felt in every sense of the word.

He knew what it meant.

Madness.


	29. Chapter 29: Sparring

**xxxxxx**

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-Nine:**

**Sparring**

**xxxxxx**

**When** he awoke just before dawn colored the world in its soft, grayish-purple hues, he found that the drow had awoken before him.

She sat before the small fire she'd ignited in the remnants of last night's campfire, roasting the cold deer meat of last night's dinner on the end of a sword.

Bishop watched her, quietly, making no show that he was awake.

Jaelyn stared intently at the meat on the end of her sword and she was practically drooling. There was an expression of intense hunger on her face.

She reached out and pinched the meat to see if it was cooked enough and quickly took back her hand.

"Ouch!" she hissed, sticking her finger in her mouth.

Jaelyn pulled her sword out of the fire and waited until the metal cooled off before grabbing it and turning it so she could bring the meat to her mouth. She blew on it fiercely and then took a bite, letting out a soft moan as it obviously intensified her appetite. She ate more ravenously, probably assuming no one was awake to see her.

He smirked and let her continue thinking she wasn't being watched. It gave him the chance to see her at her most authentic; people couldn't help but be themselves when they thought they were alone. Hells, maybe she'd do something embarrassing and he could use it against her, make her flush that way he liked. Unfortunately, she did nothing of the sort. It seemed her most embarrassing moments lay within her angry ones. Those had been the only times he caught her doing something she usually didn't do when people looked on.

Right now, she was simply perfect, even though she was eating in that same savage, half-starved manner as her animal companion.

That hunk of meat was a thing of the past now and she sucked on every one of her fingers before taking up her canteen for a drink.

Bishop sat up on his elbows, now grinning in that wolfish way he had when he was amused.

"Hungry, drow?"

Jaelyn started and promptly spit her mouth full of water into the fire, coughing. Her eyes were so wide they nearly took over her face.

She turned toward him and her dark skin flushed a bit darker.

Jaelyn rubbed her hand across her wet lips and then patted her chest, which, for some reason, seemed to be a universal reflex to nearly choking.

"Do you enjoy scaring me to death?" she croaked and then cleared her throat.

He only shrugged.

Jaelyn narrowed her eyes at him. "And how long have you been watching me?"

He grinned. "Long enough."

She frowned. "You need to be taught a lesson in manners, Bishop. You shouldn't watch a lady eat."

"Why not?"

"Because it makes her self-conscious, that's why. When she knows you're doing it, that is."

"Only if the lady happens to have low self-esteem."

"What're you saying?"

"Figure it out."

Jaelyn glared at him. "How about the next time you go out to relieve yourself, I'll just come watch like you offered before? Then we'll see who's got low self-esteem."

"That's fine with me. In fact, I'd welcome it. You can finally see what you're missing out on."

Jaelyn gave him a sneering once-over and then huffed indignantly. "It's hard to see what isn't there."

His grin remained in place, though it turned a touch nastier.

"Oh, well, that must be 'cause of all this leather I'm wearing. Let me just remove it..."

His hands moved down to his belt and he began tugging it open. Jaelyn let out a gasp and quickly averted her eyes, her face turning hot.

"Cut it out, you perverted fool!" she exclaimed. "I don't want to see that!"

He laughed. "Gods, you're such a little prude. You're going to have to look at a man one of these days, drow."

"Yes." she agreed, refusing to look at him. "But it's going to be a man that means something to me, one I love, not you."

Jaelyn wanted to laugh at her own words, at the ease with which she had lied to him. Even if she fully understood how she felt about this man, would she ever be able to confess those feelings to him? Would she even want to? She knew how he'd react to it, the same way he'd reacted when she told him she cared about him. It was better to lie. For now. Just until she understood completely, until she really knew for sure. But didn't she admit it to Quin? Didn't she admit that she loved him?

She came out of her thoughts, shaking her head, realizing his silence.

When she turned her head to look at him, she found him looking off elsewhere and there was a faint scowl on his face.

Was he..._upset_?

Bishop got to his feet, dusted his leathers off and then looked down at her coldly.

"Your loss." His voice shared that same coldness on his face. "Now, get up. We got a few hours before we have to leave here. Might as well take advantage of the time and get in some more sparring. You need all the practice you can get."

"Don't insult me, you jerk." she snapped.

"It's not an insult if it's fact." he replied indifferently. "And the fact is, you're no where near good enough to wield a sword in battle."

The ranger was baiting her and he knew without a doubt that she would bite. She never backed down from a challenge.

Jaelyn jumped up to her feet, angry. "Oh, really? I could kick your ass easy."

He grinned in that terrible, ominous way he had when he provoked her. "Yeah? Prove it."

"Fine!" she hissed through her teeth in an effort to keep her voice quiet. She didn't want to wake the others.

Jaelyn bent down, snatched up her sword, and walked right up to him, poking him hard in the chest with her finger. "Let's go."

She started off into the woods. Bishop followed.

They were a good ways away from camp when Jaelyn finally stopped and turned around to face him. "All right, we're far enough away from camp now."

"If you wanted to be alone with me, you could've just said so." he replied, smirking.

She snorted. "In your dreams. And _only_ in your dreams."

"Oh, yeah. And the things you do in my dreams..."

Jaelyn didn't miss the suggestive tone, nor the lewd glimmer in his eyes.

"You...You're...ugh!" she groaned violently and then thrust the point of her sword at him. "I'll teach you some manners!"

He unsheathed his longsword, his mouth twitching into a faint smile. "Let's see what you've got then, girl."

Bishop wasn't intending to go easy on her. He was going to give her the full extent of his skill and see how much of what he'd taught her yesterday had actually sunk in.

They sparred for about ten minutes before he had her disarmed and laying on the ground with him standing over her, the point of his sword at her neck.

She was glaring up at him, frustration showing on her face.

"Not bad." he remarked. "Lasted longer than I thought you would, but you've still got a lot to learn."

Jaelyn lifted her hand and pushed his weapon away from her neck. She sat up, frowning.

"It shouldn't be this hard. I mean, how much is there to hitting someone with a sword?"

"A lot." He stuck the sword's point into the ground and leaned a bit on the crosspiece. "It's more than just swinging, hitting, parrying and thrusting. It's psychological as well."

Jaelyn gave him a confused look. "Huh?"

He rolled his eyes in a half-hearted manner. "Swordplay, like war, is about deception. To deceive your enemy, you need to know your enemy, what he's thinking and how he fights. Bait him with moves he'll expect. If he's especially full of himself, then make him feel strong and powerful by acting weaker than what you are; he'll get careless. That's when you go in for the kill. Strike him down fast; don't give him even a second to think or you'll take the risk of him realizing your deception."

He paused a moment and straightened up.

"You may not want to hear it, drow, but you're going to, anyway." he went on. "Do not try to talk your opponent down. It won't work. Don't spare him. Out there on the battlefield, it's either you or them. Don't show mercy; it's a weakness and your enemies won't hesitate to use it against you."

Jaelyn frowned and shook her head. "So just kill?"

He scoffed. "It's battle. What do you expect? I don't get it. You've killed before and I've seen you kill without mercy. So, why are you suddenly getting all sensitive about it?"

"I killed out of necessity."

"Right. That's no different than how one kills in battle. Like I said, it's either you or them."

Jaelyn slowly got to her feet, looking at him determinedly. "But there has to be-"

"There isn't!" he snapped at her, getting frustrated. His brows were drawn together and there was a harsh glint in his eyes. "Get that through your thick head."

Gods, how he wanted to throttle her. Why she couldn't learn to accept that killing these drow was the only option she had, he would never know.

Well, she'd understand it once she stepped in battle with them, though that lesson would likely cost her her life.

Not that he cared. Nope, not a bit.

Let her go out there and think she can save everyone. Let her idiotic belief that there's good in everyone take her down. It would be her own damn fault.

Bishop frowned. He would show her what she would be up against. He would show her now; he would make her understand, and there would be no going easy on her, no chances. She was going to see the brutality of battle, where words had no place, unless they were the cries of war or the pleas of the dying.

Without so much as a word or a sign of warning, he swung his sword at her, aggressively. It made a keen whistling noise through the air as it came in at her.

Jaelyn's reflexes were fast and she barely had a second to jump back from him, her face a mask of surprise and confusion.

"What're you do-"

Bishop swung again and this time the edge of his sword caught her arm, drawing a thin line of blood. She exhaled more in surprise than in actual pain. She had been expecting the smack from the flat of the blade, not the sting of its sharp edge.

She looked at her arm a moment and then at him to see a cool, indifferent look on his face.

"If you're trying to prove some kind of point here, there's no need in-"

This time the blade thrust in at her. She threw her body backwards and the sword barely missed impaling her. She could actually feel it scrap across the front of her tunic, severing a bit of the fabric.

Now she was getting angry. If she hadn't been quick to get out of the way, that blow would have killed her.

"That's enough, Bishop." she snapped. "I'm not playing this game, so cut it out."

She yelped in surprise when he grabbed her in a painful grip and pulled her back against him, his left arm coming around her shoulder and across her chest to keep her in place. His sword came up against her throat, pressing firm into the delicate skin of her neck, close to drawing blood.

"Look at you," he hissed in her ear in a disdainful tone. "You're pathetic. You wouldn't last five minutes on any battlefield."

Jaelyn wiggled against him and he tightened his arm around her until it became painful.

"Let me go!" she cried in alarm. "You're hurting me."

"Good." he growled, pulling his sword away from her and then shoving her roughly toward where her weapon lay.

It was the only favor she was getting from him.

Jaelyn fell hard next to her longsword and glared up at him. "What's your problem? Why are you acting like this?"

"Pick it up!" he barked at her.

But she didn't. She sat there with that angry look directed at him, defiant as ever.

He stepped to her, leveling the point of his sword just under her chin, pressing it deep until it drew blood this time. He peered down the length of that blade, a dark, ominous expression on his face and a strange light in his eyes. He seemed passionately determined.

"Don't test me, girl, or I'll gut you here and now." he warned her. "You've got two choices: fight or die."

Her face creased into a frown of confusion. "You can't mean that."

Bishop smirked and shook his head. "When will you learn?"

He drew back his weapon, and for a brief second Jaelyn was relieved, then she felt the sharp sting of his sword across her cheek as it bit into her skin. She let out a pained gasp, her hand moving over the cut. A small stream of blood slipped through her index and middle finger.

Bishop watched her, how her frame went rigid. Then slowly, she looked up at him.

He smiled. What he wanted was there.

Her green eyes held that strange red sheen, the haze of rage. She knew now he meant business.

He whirled his blade and thrust it down at her. Jaelyn rolled away and over her sword, barely missing being impaled again. The point of his weapon went a few inches into the ground and came within a few inches of her body.

She scrambled to her feet, weapon in hand and moved around him, not yet moving in to attack him.

This surprised him, but at the same time it also found his approval. She was still too much of an amateur to make such a bold move; caution was needed on a more skilled opponent. He wondered if she truly knew this or if she was merely hesitant on attacking him, despite her anger toward him.

There was only one way to find out.

Bishop grinned nastily and began circling her. "Come on, little drow. Shouldn't you be attacking me, charging in, all hell-bent on killing me?"

Jaelyn's eyes followed his every move.

Good. Now she was getting it.

"No," she growled back. "Because that's what you want me to do and the moment I charge in, I'm going to impale myself on your sword. I'll pass on that."

"Well, you could always impale yourself on something else of mine." he remarked, suggestively.

Jaelyn scoffed. "Try to goad me all you want. I'm not attacking first."

"Who's goading? I was making an honest suggestion."

"Then suggest it to someone who's interested."

"Don't act like you're not. I know what effect I have on you. Doesn't take a genius to see it, the way you look at me and get all flustered around me."

"You-You're out of your mind!" she sputtered and silently cursed her traitorous cheeks for suddenly turning hot under his accusation.

"Am I?" he replied with a smirk, noticing the way her skin darkened. "Someone's going to claim that sweet maidenhood of yours sooner of later. Might as well be me. I've got the cure for your prudence, drow; all you need is a good fucking."

Jaelyn looked positively appalled, his vulgar suggestion proving successful in its attempt to further her anger.

She lunged at him with her sword and he easily knocked the attack away and then riposted. His blade struck against hers with a loud clang that echoed around the forest. Their weapons stayed together a moment and then Bishop gave his a violent whirl against hers that sent Jaelyn's arm out wide, opening her up for a killing blow. Of course, he didn't follow through with it, but what he did do was prove it was there by placing the tip of his weapon against her chest, just where her heart was.

"Guess what. You're dead." he said, dryly. "I hope you get it now how talking can be turned against you."

So, that was his little game?

She wanted to slap him.

Well, she wasn't the only one in need of a lesson here. She was going to show him once and for all that she was not to be trifled with.

She knew deep down that there really wasn't any lesson she wanted to give him. She just wanted to get back at him for showing her up, for proving his point and being right. She hated it when he was right.

Jaelyn sighed, lowering her head to appear ashamed of herself.

"I see now." she spoke solemnly. "You easily turned the conversation against me, forced me to attack you out of anger. I allowed myself to become manipulated through words and if we'd been in a true battle, I'd surely be dead."

"Then you _do_ get it. Good, maybe there's hope for you yet."

When he pulled his weapon away from her and sheathed it, she stepped toward him and immediately noted how he turned fully to her, how he wasn't cautious of her at all. Her weakness may be that she saw good in people and that she would rather talk her way out of something than to fight, but his weakness was easily underestimating people, or at least underestimating her. And for that, he was going to be sorry.

Jaelyn put on her most serious mask and looked up at him.

"Look, I hate admitting you were right, but I think what just happened here pretty much speaks for itself. So...thanks."

"Don't thank me." he replied. "You needed the lesson."

She laughed lightly. "Indeed. I guess I'm lucky to have you around to show me that. I really do appreciate all these lessons you've been giving me, you know."

Bishop narrowed his eyes a bit in suspicion, then he shrugged. "I'm surprised you've actually survived this long without knowing something about how to use a sword."

"Well, I know how to keep my distance, so I've never really had any occasion to use a sword."

"You'll have one soon enough."

She nodded her agreement and then smiled up at him. "As long as I have you around to teach me, I think I'll be fine. You are going to teach me more, right?"

He shrugged. "Maybe. You're doing well enough so far that it doesn't seem like a waste of time teaching you. You learn quick, I'll give you that."

Jaelyn grinned. "Good. I'm already looking forward to our next lesson."

She stepped even closer to him and they were now barely a foot apart.

Her voice was silky and sultry when she spoke.

"Now, I just need to decide how to _show_ my thanks."

She kept her head lowered, playing herself off as timid and shy, remembering well how he'd called her a prude. There actually wasn't much acting involved at all. She was already nervous, having to play the seduction card on him again. It had worked the last time, but she wasn't certain about this time.

"Oh, really?" he finally replied and she could sense no suspicion in his tone. "Anything particular you had in mind?"

She boldly closed the space between them, pressing herself up against him. His scent and warmth filled her, made her disoriented for a moment.

Her heart was pounding against her chest.

Then she made a mistake.

Instead of closing her eyes and pulling him in for the kiss that would distract him so she could stick her knee in his groin, she looked up at him, into his eyes.

A tidal wave of desires and emotions rolled over her, strong and almost unbearable. They hurt and scared her as much as they felt good; they also confused and alarmed her. She couldn't fight them. Everything inside her was telling her that this was what she wanted. She wanted him, and this time, she would have him.

Bishop stared down at her, a brow raised. He was smirking.

His hands found her waist and Jaelyn let go of her sword. It fell at her side, but neither of them heeded the muffled clunking sound it made when it hit the ground.

Her hands came up across his shoulders and she had to stand up on her toes to reach him, seeking to close that little space between them.

He ached for that kiss, but he tried to force the need away with every bit of strength he had, and it wasn't easy. It aggravated him how hard it was to fight this off. That need was muddling his brain up and if he couldn't think, he was going to find himself in trouble.

Jaelyn's small frame was so pressed up against his larger one that he could feel every curve of her; he could even feel the quickened throb of her heart. And when her mouth brushed against his, timidly, unsure, he almost lost it.

He grit his teeth and gave all those emotions welling up inside him a violent, mental shove, then his hand came up against her throat to keep her from kissing him fully. It had taken quite an effort to move it, as if it were made of lead.

She looked confused and a bit dazed as he stared down into her eyes. His grip on her tightened and his face creased into a sneer.

"Nice try," he growled. "But I'm not falling for that."

He shoved her back away from him by her throat and glared hard.

"You're playing your games with the wrong man, drow."

Jaelyn shook her head, staring at him in surprise and hurt. "I wasn't-"

"Save it."

With that, he turned away and headed back to camp, leaving her there.

Jaelyn stood rigidly, watching him go, her heart still pounding, and she was now pained by the bitter stab of rejection. Perhaps she had deserved it for tricking him before.

**xxxxxxxxxx**

When Jaelyn finally found her way back to camp, she saw that the others were packing up and getting ready to leave.

She went over and began packing her own things; shaking off her bed roll and then rolling it back up, preparing a few rations from the deer meat in case she got hungry or if they had to camp again. She filled her canteen from a nearby creek and then took her belongings to place them on the back of the cart, which seemed to be everyone's general idea of what to do with their things.

The other weapons the natives had been carrying were already loaded on, leaving a small area of the cart free. It was here that Quin sat, babysitting Baeylene.

Jaelyn was surprised to see that the halfling had constructed a crib-like bed for the baby out of the bed rolls, a safe enough place to put her while they traveled.

She was placed in it now with Quin leaning over her, making his silly faces at her. The infant giggled and clutched at his face.

Jaelyn smiled as she put her things on the cart. "You're very good with her."

Quin looked up at her with his trademark grin. "She's the sweetest thing. You know, I never even wondered about children until she came along. Now I think I'd like to have some of my own. A whole clan of them!"

Jaelyn laughed and reached out, pinching his cheek. "You'll make some lucky halfling girl a good husband and you'll be a good father as well."

Quin rubbed his cheek where she pinched. "You think so?"

"As long as you stay how you are." she said. "As long as you stay Quin Bramblebrow."

He laughed. "Well, who else am I going to be?"

She smiled. "Indeed."

Quin looked at her closely, finally noting the cut on her face. He lifted a finger toward it. "Say, what happened there?"

She shrugged. "I got it sparring with..." She didn't say his name. She couldn't speak it or hear it at the moment. It made her angry and sad all at the same time; to think she had opened herself up to him again, was willing to finally give in to him, only to be rejected so cruelly.

_You deserved it. You were trying to trick him again until it became something else._

She shook her head.

Quin stared at her for a moment before speaking. "So, that's where you two have been. Sparring, eh? I assume you must have showed him a thing or two considering he came out of the forest looking like he wanted to beat up something."

She shrugged again. "No, I did something stupid that I know I'm going to regret for the rest of my life."

"What?"

"I tried to kiss him."

Quin's eyes nearly popped out of his head in shock. "You _what_?"

"He rejected me."

"Huh?" Quin looked positively confused. "You mean to tell me after all his idiotic suggestive remarks and sexual innuendos, he was given the chance to make good on them and he didn't? I knew he was all talk!"

"Well," she said with a sigh. "That's that, then."

Quin shook his head. "That idiot is going to be the one regretting it. No one likes him; he's only lucky that you do."

"He won't regret it; he wants to be alone it seems."

"Let him, then." Quin said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "You can do better than him, anyway."

Jaelyn shook her head and looked off at the natives as they talked amongst themselves, waiting to leave. "It's not that simple, Quin. I lo-"

"Are they ready to go now?" a harsh, impatient voice cut her off and made her heart seize up inside her chest.

_Gods..._

Jaelyn went rigid, her mouth went dry, and her hands gripped the side of the cart so hard her knuckles paled(or at least went a lighter shade of gray). Her breath gave up trying to escape her mouth and instead settled in her throat.

Quin looked from the approaching ranger to the one about to have a heart attack and rose a brow. He had no idea what she had been about to say, what she had almost blurted to the world, or at least to anyone within earshot.

"Jae, are you all right?" the halfling inquired. "You look like you're going to faint."

She opened her mouth to speak, but all that came out was a soft, strangled sound, as if the words tried to come out so fast that they all got jumbled up together in her throat.

"What's her problem?" Bishop asked from where he stood behind her.

Quin merely shrugged.

A fleeting moment of relief washed over Jaelyn as she realized that Bishop must not have heard what she was about to say, but she was going to have to watch her mouth from now on. Why she had almost spoke those words aloud when she knew he was around and might hear was beyond her. She definitely wasn't going to make that mistake again.

There was a moment of silence where all she felt was his presence behind her and saw Quin looking at him over her shoulder with a funny expression on his face, then Bishop bumped her arm with his elbow. She turned slightly only to look at him out of the corner of her eye. He gestured something to her, a small vial.

Jaelyn cocked her head as she realized it was the healing potion she had given him before they had left to find the weapons, the one she had given him as a token of friendship. What did it mean if he was giving it back?

"For the cut." he said gruffly, eying the wound on her face. "Consider it-" He caught himself. "Just take the damn thing. Never used it, anyway."

He pushed it into her hand, not waiting to see if she'd take it and then stalked off without a glance back.

Jaelyn juggled the vial, careful not to drop it and looked from it to him in surprise.

"Huh," said Quin. "That was odd."

She looked at the vial again and then at the ranger, swallowing. "Indeed."

The halfling reached for the little bottle. "Here, I'll help you apply it."

Jaelyn clutched it to her chest. "No, I think I want to keep it for a while."

"...Why?"

She shrugged and smiled. "I just do."

Quin made a face. "You are both acting weird."

Jaelyn slipped the vial into the small pouch on her belt and reached over, giving the halfling's cheek another pinch.

"You're not exactly normal yourself, Quin."

He slapped her hand away, groaning. "Stop that. My Aunt Matilda used to do that to me all the time. Drove me nuts."

Jaelyn laughed briefly and glanced around. "Where's Feral?"

"I saw him wander out into the forest. He'll be back, I'm sure."

"He better hurry before Bishop starts getting antsy."

And as if on cue, the cat-bear in mention came darting out of the woods, leaping up into the halfling's lap while looking up at Jaelyn with a grin as if to say, 'okay, now we can go."

Jaelyn smiled and brushed her hand through his fur before turning and making her way toward the natives gathered around the dark, ashy remnants of their campfire.

Akereth looked up upon her approach and she nodded to him.

"We're ready to leave when all of you are." she said to him in drow.

He got to his feet and nodded. "We are ready."

"Bishop and I will lead." Jaelyn told him. "We need at least four of you to help pull the cart now that it's carrying more weight, but it must be handled carefully. Very carefully. There are...um, explosives on it."

Akereth's brows crinkled in confusion, as he'd never heard the word before.

Jaelyn laughed and shook her head. "They blow up. Boom!"

The native still wasn't getting it.

She sighed. "You see, if the cart isn't handled gently, there's something we're carrying on it that will tear apart anyone within a few hundred yards of it."

His eyes widened. It got through that time.

"T-Tear apart?" he stuttered. "You mean, the drow had this in their hideout?"

Jaelyn nodded solemnly.

"But...what if they have more?"

She shrugged. "Let's hope they don't. Even if they do, they have less of them now. So, it's still a good thing. Just...make sure your guys know to be careful with the cart."

Akereth nodded. "All right."

He turned back to his fellow natives to assemble four able-bodied men together while Jaelyn returned to the back of the cart.

She jerked a thumb back. "Off the cart, Quin. And take Baeylene with you."

"Huh? Why?"

Jaelyn gave him a stern expression as she picked Feral up from the cart and sat him on the ground, ignoring his irritated look. "Do you think it's a good idea for you and Baeylene to travel back here with the explosives? What if something happens?"

Quin cringed. "Oh, right. That makes sense." He pouted. "But it's such a long walk back to the village."

She grinned at him. "Getting there on foot is safer. Of course, staying back here if these things go off will probably get you there faster...and in pieces."

"All right, all right. Point taken."

Quin reached into the makeshift crib and pulled Baeylene out, holding her to his chest.

"Can you carry her all the way back to the village by yourself?" Jaelyn asked, looking down at him.

The halfling nodded. "No problem. Quit treating me like a kid."

"I'm not. I just want to be sure you can handle her weight. She's nearly as big as you are...or should that be you're nearly as small as she is?"

Quin looked up at her in shock. "_What_?"

She laughed. "I was only joking."

"I should hope so."

Four natives approached the cart, two standing on either side of the handles and giving Jaelyn expectant looks. She nodded to them and then looked down at Quin.

"Come on, let's go."

Quin fell in step behind her as she made her way over to Bishop, who stood on the edge of camp under a tree, his back against the trunk, arms folded across his chest as he scowled out into the woods.

"We're ready to go."

"It's about damn time." he grumbled. "We've wasted enough of it as it is."

Jaelyn made a proceeding gesture with her hand. "Well, come on."

He straightened up from the tree, glaring at her. "We go when I say we go."

She shook her head, setting her hands to her hips. She knew he was just trying to start an argument. "Then _you're_ the one holding us up."

He growled at her, viciously, knowing she'd got him that time. "Let's go!"

Bishop turned on his heel and began making his way out through the undergrowth.

Today wasn't going to be his day, he could already tell that. He couldn't think straight, he was irritated and aching in places he didn't want to think about; all because of some woman. Damn drow. She was nothing but trouble, a demon disguised in dark, silky skin, beautiful sylvan features, subtle, yet enticing curves and luminous eyes. And that wild hair, white as freshly fallen snow. He remembered last night, when she was sleeping and he'd touched that hair, brushed it across her forehead, and it was soft; her skin, her hair, all of it, so very soft. And then when they'd been sparring, when she looked up at him and tried to kiss him, that soft brush of her lips against his...

His heart was hammering and there was a knot in his throat that refused to budge.

Damn it! He couldn't get her out of his head.


	30. Chapter 30: The Truth Sucks

**xxxxxx**

* * *

**Chapter Thirty:**

**The Truth Sucks**

**xxxxxx**

**There** seemed to be a universal sigh of relief when the village came into view, and they had been lucky enough to make it back before dark.

The sun was dipping low, casting orange hues over the sky that could be seen above the tall trees. Every once in a while there would be a faint shimmer, indicating that the magical field over the island was still in place and the fast moving clouds proved that the island was still on the move.

The village was quiet as the group rolled across the village square. Very few natives were out and about and only a few of the shelters were lit from within. It seemed most of the village folk were gathered in the meeting hall, for the longhouse that housed the council assembly was alive with chatter and torch light. Many shadows danced and mingled across the hide walls.

The group stopped nearby and the four natives pulling the cart nearly collapsed out of exhaustion. A few of their fellow tribesman knelt to them and offered them water from their skins.

"Finally," Jaelyn said with a sigh. "I thought we'd never get back here. It's strange, but it almost feels like we're returning home."

Bishop scowled. "No, it doesn't."

Jaelyn narrowed her eyes at his back. "Would you rather be imprisoned by the drow still?"

He shot her a nasty look over his shoulder, but said nothing, which came off as weird to Jaelyn. Where was the biting retort, the sarcasm? He was acting strange, that was for sure.

Jaelyn wondered what was bothering him. Had he heard her when she had been talking to Quin at camp? Did he realize what it was that she had almost blurt out to the halfling? Or was it what had happened when they had been sparring, when she tried to kiss him?

She didn't know and it was bugging her. She wanted to ask him, she wanted to get him to talk, but that would be like trying to get a snowball to melt in below freezing temperatures.

Jaelyn moved toward him, opened her mouth to address him as gently as possible when a hand fell on her shoulder.

She turned and looked into Akereth's smiling face.

"I'll go inform Lord Olland that we have arrived." he said to her in their shared language. "I'm sure he'll want to talk to you. We have a lot of planning to do."

Jaelyn nodded and then turned back only to find Bishop gone.

_Damn it, how did he disappear so fast?_

She glanced around and spotted him fading into the darkened portal of his shelter.

Again, Jaelyn moved to go after him and again someone impeded her. It was the ghostly form of Gulaonar.

"I'm glad to see you and the others back in one piece." the departed drow said, looking her over carefully. "The journey must have been hard."

She snorted. "That's an understatement."

"You had trouble, then?"

"Don't we always?" she replied, bitingly and then waved a dismissive hand in the air. "It was nothing we couldn't handle. I'm just tired and in need of a warm meal and a soft bed."

The specter smiled gently. "And all of it well deserved. Your mission was successful."

"I'll say. We don't only have weapons, but we also stumbled upon some explosives, or at least what we think might be explosives." she paused, giving Gulaonar a thoughtful look. "Um...we also came upon something else...or I should say _someone_ else."

"What do you mean?"

Jaelyn turned to Quin and held her hands out for the cloth wrapped bundle in his arms. She had to bend low to retrieve the infant from the halfling and when Baeylene was safely in her arms, Jaelyn turned back to Gulaonar, shifting the cloth away from the baby's face so he could see her.

"This is Baeylene." she said with a smile. "Your niece."

Gulaonar's ghostly eyes widened in shock as he looked from her to the tiny infant, sleeping soundly in her arms. He was speechless.

He reached out a hand in a futile attempt to touch the child's face. His hand went through her.

"Beautiful, isn't she?" Jaelyn said.

He nodded. "I...I can sense my brother in her, just as I can..." He stopped and shook his head. "She looks like him a bit, has the shape and color of his eyes and the shape of his nose, but the mouth and brows are different. What of her mother?"

Jaelyn frowned and shook her head. "She died in child birth. I helped deliver the child, but I wasn't going to leave her there. The mother said Dresmor had sent her there to be killed for not carrying a male child."

Gulaonar shared her frown and nodded. "It has always been his desire to spawn a male child, one to follow after him, to pick up where he leaves off if something should happen to him, and someone to pass the sword to, of course. But that is a foolish desire that he will never understand until he is dead. And that will be his fate."

"The sword?" Jaelyn inquired, tilting her head in a manner of inquiry. "What is it with this thing?"

"It's a long story, and I will tell it; I must tell it, just not at the moment." Gulaonar said. "There is much you need to know and understand before you face Dresmor."

"Me?"

"Yes, you."

"I don't understand. Why me?"

"It is your destiny."

Jaelyn laughed. "How do you know?"

"I just know. And you will know, too, soon enough."

She sighed. "I really wish everyone around me would stop being so damn cryptic. Can't anyone speak plainly?"

Gulaonar stared at her with a revelatory look. "Tonight we will speak plenty. Tonight, you will come to understand your role in all this...as well as some things about your past. Prepare yourself for it."

She frowned. "You're really starting to worry me, Gulaonar."

"Me too." Quin spoke up from behind her. "I don't like the way any of this is sounding."

"Haven't you ever wondered why you were led to an island that just happened to have drow on it?" the ghost spoke. "Have you ever considered your companions, wondered why the first person you came into physical contact with ends up being unprejudiced to our kind, or why the first man you find yourself attracted to just happens to be the challenge you need? These things are not coincidence. You three were brought together and brought to this island for a reason."

Jaelyn's brows furrowed. "What do you mean?"

Gulaonar shook his head. "That's something you must figure out on your own. And only when you understand will you be ready to face Dresmor. It's going to take more than a skilled hand in fighting to beat him. Now about this sword, it is empowered by the souls of my ancestors; it is the curse of our family, and my ancestors are very angry. I can feel that anger even as we speak, without even being in the presence of the sword."

He sighed. "My father once told me that the curse is impossible to break, but if the sword ever came into the hands of a member of our family that possessed a pure enough heart and a strong enough soul, the anger of our cursed ancestors and their power could be tamed and the weapon might be used for good."

"You were good, weren't you? When you were alive? And you had the sword. Did it work?"

Gulaonar shook his head. "I was not strong enough. Their anger fueled my own and corrupted me. That was when Dresmor took his chance to kill me. If I had not been tainted by the weapon, I might have lived."

Jaelyn shook her head. "How did you escape the curse then?"

He smirked. "The curse chooses which souls it wants; only the truly evil and highly skilled are chosen, and it did not want me. I may have been corrupted by the anger of my ancestors, but there was a part of me still pure at the time of my death, and...I was not powerful enough. I possessed no worthy abilities. You see, the curse allows the skills our ancestors knew in life to pass on to whoever wields the sword, but in return for this, upon the wielder's death, his soul, should it be worthy, would join the others and thus his abilities too would be passed on to the next wielder. It's the price of power. Only someone who would use that power for good is immune to the soul curse."

"But there isn't any one left in your family anymore to use the weapon for good. Only Baeylene and she's too young to wield a sword."

Gulaonar laughed, peering over her shoulder to see the leader of the natives stepping out of the longhouse. "Indeed. We will speak on that more later. You are needed elsewhere."

He pointed and she followed his finger to where Lord Olland was stepping out, making his way toward her.

When the native chieftain stopped before her, he bowed deeply, a hand over his chest.

"You have succeeded in bringing us a way to defend ourselves against the drow. For this, we will forever be in your debt." Olland said humbly.

Jaelyn glanced about at all the smiling natives crowding around them, and then she brought her gaze back to Olland, her cheeks darkening a bit.

"Well, I...er...We haven't really done anything yet. There's still the training and then we have to come up with a plan to fight the drow. So, just hold off on all the thank yous and stuff for now." she said.

Olland smiled. "As you wish. We will begin training the people in the morning. For now, we shall have a grand feast to celebrate your success. You and your companions have certainly deserved it."

Behind her, she could hear Gulaonar translating to Quin what was being said in low tones.

"Also," Olland continued. "While you were away on your journey, a group of my people were able to concoct a substance to use on your boat that will aid in repairing it. They are at the beach as we speak, working on it."

Jaelyn grinned. "Great! And thank you!"

"We might get to go home after all!" Quin burst with excitement from behind her after a steady translation from Gulaonar.

Jaelyn laughed. "Too bad grumpy isn't here to hear this. It might actually put him in a good mood for once."

"Want me to go get him?" Quin offered.

"No, let him be. I'll go pester him in a minute." she replied. "I've got to return something to him, anyway."

Quin gave her a look of inquiry but she wasn't paying attention.

Jaelyn spotted Akereth in the crowd of natives and shifted Baeylene into the halfling's arms before motioning him over.

"What is it?" Akereth asked when he stood before her, his arms crossed casually over his chest.

"You remember that knife I gave you to hide for me?"

"Of course."

"Can you bring it to me? I need it back."

Akereth nodded, but he had a confused look on his face. "I still don't understand why you wanted me to hide it. Might I know about it now?"

"It's Bishop's. A prized possession of his. I was holding it hostage so he would agree to help train your people." she explained.

"And he agreed?"

Jaelyn snorted. "Hardly. And well...after he explained why it was important to him, I felt guilty for taking it. I shouldn't have done that."

Akereth made a face. "Sounds like he deserved it."

She shrugged. "Whether he did or not isn't the point. I shouldn't have done what I did. Now, go on, get the knife, will you?"

He heaved out a sigh. "As you wish."

Jaelyn watched him stride off toward a shelter on the northern edge of the village and it wasn't long before he returned with the knife in his hand.

He gave it back to her, frowning. "My father went through a lot to keep this knife for you. It upset him greatly to have it in our home."

"Why?"

"He could sense evil in it." Akereth said. "Every night it remained in our home, my father performed blessings to keep its taint at bay. He said that blade is stained in a lot of blood, both human and animal and that the blood on it most certainly stains the hands of its owner as well. It's unclean. I thought you should know."

Jaelyn looked at the knife, unsure of what to say. When she looked up at him again, Akereth's face was a mask of grimness.

"He is evil." he spoke. "Whatever good you think he has left, it isn't strong enough to break through the darkness."

She shook her head, unwilling to believe him, and Akereth grabbed her arm, squeezing it desperately.

"He's tainted, Jaelyn. And the longer you stay around him, the more likely it is that he will taint you, too."

Jaelyn jerked roughly out of his grasp, her features contorting in anger. "You don't know anything about him!"

Akereth stared at her hard. "Why won't you listen?"

She didn't answer, but the harsh look she gave him spoke for itself. She spun away from him and stomped off toward Bishop's shelter, unaware of the attention she had drawn to herself.

Akereth stood there a moment, frowning deeply and then shook his head.

"You'll see for yourself soon enough."

He turned and made his way to the east side of the village, where a group of huts were all clumped together, and disappeared into one of them.

When Jaelyn got to the shelter, she paused at the cloth covered portal and lifted a hand to knock against the frame to announce her presence. She hesitated, her knuckles hovering over the wood.

Her mouth was going dry as she stood there and her hands started feeling clammy.

What was she nervous about? She was acting ridiculous.

She knocked softly on the wooden frame. "Bishop?"

There was nothing but silence on the other side of that cloth and just as she was about to stick her head around it to peer into the shelter, it swished open violently, making her jump back in surprise.

She stared up into the ranger's face, her eyes widened a bit. He had one of those oh-no-not-you-again looks.

"What?" he snapped, irritably.

Again, she found herself hesitating, feeling the great Infestation of Nervousness worming around in her gut, and then to make matters worse, her lips started moving before her brain could decide what they should say. Treacherous things. They were getting her into a lot of trouble lately.

"I was...I came to...I didn't mean to...uh..."

"Stop wasting my time, drow." he growled at her.

Jaelyn shook her head, frowning. "Sorry. I just came to return this."

She held his knife out to him, handle first. He looked down at it and then snatched it away from her, nearly making the blade cut into her palm.

"Good." he said and then thrust the point of the knife under her nose, giving her a threatening look. "And if you ever take something of mine again, you won't live to regret it. Now, get out of my face."

Before she had time to protest, he yanked the cloth back in place over the portal. It was a gentler version of slamming a door in her face. The effect didn't have as much power as Bishop might have liked, but it would do to get his point across. At least, he had thought it would. He should've known better.

Door or not, it wouldn't have mattered. Jaelyn wasn't letting him get away that easy, especially not after speaking to her like that.

Angry and frustrated with his constant mood swings, Jaelyn grabbed the cloth and ripped it open. She stormed in after him and he turned to face her head on with an unpleasant look that seemed at home on his face.

"I thought I said-"

"I don't give a damn what you said." she cut him off. "How dare you speak to me like that! What in the hells is your problem?"

His eyes narrowed into two glaring slits. "Get out, drow. _Now_."

She gave him a haughty, defiant look, crossing her arms over her chest. "No."

He felt the corners of his mouth twitch. As angry and aggravated as he was, he still found it arousing when she got all defiant on him. But arousing or not, he wasn't going to let her win this one.

"Get out or I'll throw you out."

"Try it." she spat without hesitation.

Jaelyn closed the space between them in two steps and then shoved her hands hard into his chest, a harsh glare on her face to rival one of his own.

"Go on," she dared to provoke him. "Throw me out!"

The unpleasant look that had been on his face was annihilated from existence by the more powerful Sinister Sneer, and before she knew it, his hand had closed over her throat. He shoved her back against the support pole that stood in the midst of the shelter. Her hands went around his wrist, yet she showed no sign of being afraid. That defiant, angry look was still there.

All he had to do was close his other hand around her throat and he could choke the life right out of her. He could finally be rid of his problem, of all the turmoil she had put in him. Better yet, he could snap her neck and then throw her body over a cliff somewhere, say she fell or jumped.

And yet even as he made desperate plans to escape her, something else was happening to him that insisted his attempts would be useless. This something refused to play along with being ignored any longer; it was time to make itself heard, loud and clear.

It was sneaky and clever, this thing. All this time, it had camped out in the back of his mind, making him think his efforts at keeping it down were successful, when all along it was merely waiting for the perfect moment to strike. This thing was what he dreaded, that seemingly weak, little portion of himself not stained in blood or standing knee deep in corpses. It carried light with it, there was a strength in it he had never realized, and there were good emotions in it, ones that sneaked out of their hiding spot when he wasn't looking to wreak havoc on him, ones that seemed to be drawn to her, for they weren't as lively before he had met her. In fact, they didn't even seem to _exist_ before he met her.

Snap her neck and throw her over a cliff? What a joke.

It wasn't a question of whether or not he could do it. He didn't _want_ to do it and that feeling of not wanting to hurt her when she was hurting him was as alien to him as the native's language.

With his hand around her neck, realizing that he could easily crush her throat, he felt something nasty drop into the pit of his stomach. The last time he'd done this, had his hands around her throat, he'd left behind evidence. He could actually still see it on her neck; the small, faint bruise. And there was something like regret or guilt(or both) that came with the memory.

Guilt? Regret? Hells, he couldn't even remember the last time he'd felt something like that; he couldn't remember if he _ever_ had.

Bishop was simply amazed to find his hand loosening on her neck and then amazement turned to shock when his thumb brushed her skin, which was so soft and delicate, so feminine. Why shouldn't she be his? It wasn't like she suffocated him or anything. Hells, she was the only one that let him be himself. Sure, she complained about him sometimes, but she had never tried forcing him to change. And only once had she tried to force him into doing something, but even then, in the end, she didn't follow through with it completely. He got his knife back and he hadn't even agreed to help her train the natives.

She was staring up at him now, her face softening from that look of defiance into one of confusion and curiosity. Her green eyes were wide and had a look of innocence in them, all of which was definitely not helping him fight. Was he even trying to fight? He wasn't sure. He wasn't even sure of where he was at the moment.

No, he wanted to give in this time, just once, to flirt with disaster. Morbid curiosity, sexual frustration, and all his other restrained desires had his will outnumbered and out-armed. His Reason had thrown down its weapon and gone home a long time ago. It had known it was beat. But Will, stubborn thing that it was, wouldn't give up. It fought back even now, and it was steadily losing as Desire began taunting and weakening it by conjuring up in his mind risque images of all the things he wanted to do to Jaelyn and all the things he wanted her to do to him. And then just to be cruel, it brought about the sweet memory that would serve as the killing blow.

It was the kiss, the one he hungered for. It was her pressed against him, wrapped up in his arms, her soft, unused lips locked with his in fiery passion. It had it's own magic, it sent his heart into overdrive, and made all his adrenaline rush; it made him feel alive, made him feel free; he would finally be doing what he wanted. He didn't have to hold back, he didn't have to keep fighting her. He didn't need to fight her because she would be his, only his and that kiss...that kiss would be theirs again.

He felt dizzy and realized he had stopped breathing.

Jaelyn was staring at him now with one brow raised, probably wondering what in the hells he was doing. He couldn't really blame her. He hadn't moved or spoken for several minutes, simply stared at her and tried to figure out what he would do next.

He'd made his decision, for good or ill. He had fought against his desires long enough. Fighting them did nothing. If he sated them, he might quell the raging storm in his heart. The one in his pants would have to wait its turn; one thing at a time.

His hand slipped to the nape of her neck, the tips of his fingers gliding up her skin until they disappeared into her hair. The soft touch made her gut tighten and little bumps of delight broke out across her skin. The touch was a lot different than any of his other touches. It was nice, for one thing and not aggressive, for another, all of which made her wonder if the man she currently stood in front of was actually Bishop or not. There was something else in the touch as well, something deeper, like affection. It had never been there before, that much Jaelyn knew, but it was...wonderful.

His behavior was beginning to set off alarms inside her. That touch, his uncharacteristic silence, the way he was looking at her...

There was a feverish light in his eyes that was making her nervous.

"Bishop, why-"

He pressed a finger to her lips, silencing her, never taking his eyes away from hers.

"Don't talk, damn it." he said, his voice involuntarily turning into a growl. "Just...shut up."

Jaelyn's breath clogged in the back of her throat when that light in his eyes intensified into flames, and she knew before he even moved that he would kiss her.

She didn't understand this; after all, he had rejected her when she tried kissing him, but she also wasn't about to fight him off, either. She wanted it, she wanted that kiss they had shared before, the one full of magic. Even if it had started out being a trick, they both knew it had turned into something else.

When he bent and angled his face toward hers, she stood up on her toes to meet him halfway, her hands on his shoulders to support herself.

They were an inch away from what they both had yearned for but had been denied for so long. Their hearts pounded with excitement and almost in sync with each other, blood rushed south to leave their brains completely muddled, and sensible thought became impossible. The ground seemed to have fallen out from beneath them, time froze, and the world...it was the dreaded world that refused to go away, as it was supposed to in a moment like this.

It was nearly perfect; it had been the moment made for this kiss, but it was completely and utterly ruined by a halfling.

"Jaelyn!" came the loud call from right outside the shelter.

They both paused in unison, an inch of space between them, aching to be closed up.

The halfling's voice made Bishop's spine turn cold with dread, and his mind, once he had control over it again, filled with red, hot rage.

He let out a vicious growl through clenched teeth just as Quin bounded through the hut door, grinning like a lunatic.

"Jaelyn! There you..." The halfling petered out as he finally took note of the close proximity between the two rangers. He blinked rapidly and his grin widened to show off all his teeth; one of them, Jaelyn had never realized, was capped in gold.. "Uh...am I interrupting something?"

Twin, sweltering glares were sent in the halfling's direction. It was probably the first time the drow had ever given him such a look.

Bishop pulled back from Jaelyn and faced Quin. Saying his body language spoke volumes of anger would have been an understatement; it screamed animosity. There was also an expression on his face that could send a demon lord fleeing for cover and a sinister gleam in his eyes that promised murder. His hands were clenching into fists.

The only thing restraining him from turning the halfling into a pulpy, red mess on the floor was the soft hand on his arm.

He settled for growling at Quin like an enraged bear and decided he'd get him for this later when the drow's back was turned.

Damn squit, ruining the moment.

"We were...uh...talking." Jaelyn spoke up.

Quin eyed them both and smirked. "Right. Talking. Do you usually stand that close together when you talk?"

Jaelyn's face darkened in embarrassment. Bishop loured at him.

"Don't you have a rock to crawl under?" he said, brusquely.

Quin snorted, grinning. "And steal away your home? I wouldn't dream of it."

He stuck his tongue out at the ranger, who narrowed his eyes.

"Do that again and I'll cut it off."

The halfling rolled his eyes and proceeded to do just that when Jaelyn stopped him.

"Quin," she said sternly. "What is it you wanted?"

"Just to let you know that the natives are getting the feast set up. They're out hunting the main course right now, and Gulaonar wants to speak with all three of us after dinner. I guess he's going to explain everything."

"Everything?" Bishop replied. "What's 'everything'?"

He had a good idea of what that meant as he recalled his conversation with the former drow not long after they had come to the island. The ghost was keeping a secret from Jaelyn, that much the ranger knew and he had an idea of what the secret was as well.

As much as they had been around the ghost and as much as the ghost talked, Bishop mainly wondered if Jaelyn might have caught on to the secret. She showed no evidence of knowing anything, however.

It was going to be a long night, he could see that. He also had a feeling the news wasn't going to sit well with Jaelyn.

A few days ago, he might have laughed at something like this happening to her. The first time he'd realized the secret, he'd found it amusing and not at all surprising. But now...for some reason, he found no humor in it at all. He also realized he wasn't internally referring to her as 'the drow' anymore. He made a face at the fact and the fact promptly fled to the back of his mind where he didn't have to deal with it anymore.

To his question, the halfling shrugged and said, "I don't know; everything he knows about the drow, I guess."

"So, he knows things that we don't. One has to wonder why our little ghost friend hasn't been forthcoming with us."

Jaelyn nodded. "I'd like to know that as well. Whatever he's going to tell us, I know it's about me."

Bishop looked upon her in surprise. "Eh? And what makes you say that?"

She shrugged. "He told me not long ago. He said that what he has to tell me is going to prepare me to fight Dremor and it also has to do with the sword he has."

Quin gave a thoughtful look. "I wonder what it is."

Bishop smirked, knowingly. "We'll find out soon enough."

**xxxxxxxxxx**

After the feast, Gulaonar gathered the three companions together in Jaelyn's hut. They sat on her bed with Jaelyn in the middle. Her animal companion was curled up at the end of the bed beside Quin, a large meal of raw meat having sent him deep into the land of Nod. The former drow stood in front of them, looking anxious and unsettled.

Gulaonar floated back and forth before the trio, contemplating on how and where he was to begin. Three sets of eyes followed him where he went until finally, Jaelyn let out a sigh and started the conversation for him.

"So, what is it you have to tell us? Why must it be me that has to fight Dresmor?"

Gulaonar sighed heavily and finally quit his pacing. If he'd had solid, tangible feet, he would've worn tracks on the floor.

He turned and faced her, only her. His gaze went no where else and when he spoke, he spoke as if she were the only one in the room. There was a grimness to his voice that worried her.

"Since the day we met and I knew and understood who you were, I have been going over this conversation in my mind many times, looking for the perfect way to tell you, but..." he shook his head with regret. "There is no perfect way; there's no way to soften the blow. It is one of the reasons why I have asked your friends to be here with you."

Jaelyn felt her heart clench in anxiety. She didn't like where this was going. She was expecting Gulaonar to tell her that someone she loved had died, but the most important people to her were already around her or safe on a completely separate land mass.

Gulaonar pushed on, knowing that delaying it was only going to make it worse. "You and I...we are related. We are family."

Jaelyn blinked in surprise. That hadn't been what she expected and hadn't been as bad as she thought it would be.

Beside her, Bishop had a smug smirk on his face.

His speculations were confirmed. He had been right about the ghost's secret. Now, he only had to wait for the exact words to come out of Gulaonar's mouth, that he was her father.

Jaelyn looked at the ghost with confusion all over her face. "Related? But...how?

"I am...your uncle."

Oddly enough, it was Bishop who responded first.

He blinked. "Wait..._what_?"

It took a moment, but Jaelyn's eyes widened in shock, her mouth dropped open and she stammered for words as what Gulaonar told her finally sank in.

"But...but...I...you...none of this makes any sense!"

Gulaonar shook his head solemnly. "I'm sorry I never told you when I knew, I'm sorry I kept this from you. But what I tell you is the truth. Dresmor is your father."

The shelter was as silent as a tomb. The words hung in the air like pollution.

Jaelyn stared at Gulaonar in horror, her heart turning to ice inside her chest. Her entire body went numb and she felt like she was trapped in some dream, some terrible nightmare.

Her companions were almost as stunned as she was.

Quin stared at her, his eyes so wide they threatened to pop out of his skull. His mouth was hanging open in shock.

The knowing, smug look that had been on Bishop's face was gone, might as well have been slapped off, and was replaced by a confused frown.

The ghost...wasn't her father? But he'd been certain of it. Hells, Gulaonar hadn't even bothered trying to convince him otherwise when he confronted him about it.

His frown turned into a scathing glare that homed in on Gulaonar.

Bishop realized the ghost had tricked him, had humored him into thinking he was right about the secret when he'd been wrong about it all along, at least partially. Gulaonar had just been leading him along.

_That deceitful wraith._

Gulaonar moved toward Jaelyn, who sat as rigid as stone.

"I am sorry." he said again with nothing but sincerity in his voice. "But you must understand now that it is no mere coincidence that you were brought to this island."

She said nothing as a mob of thoughts crowded her mind and blocked the entrance where Reality was trying to get through.

Dresmor...her father? She was the daughter of that evil drow? His spawn? But should she really be surprised? After all, as much as she had wondered about who her father was, she had always known he was drow; a part of her was always certain he was evil. But there had been another part of her that had hoped differently, that maybe her father was good, that at least one of her parents wasn't a corrupt, selfish, black-hearted monster. She had hoped to have been born of something good, but now she knew the truth. She had been spawned by evil. Her father was a sadistic, selfish bastard and her mother was even worse. The wood elf had no qualms about killing a baby, her own flesh and blood no less.

Gulaonar saw those thoughts moving through her mind; he felt her turmoil.

"It doesn't matter who your parents were, child." he said to her gently. "You never knew them; they did not raise you. What they gave you is unimportant; it is only skin deep. Those things don't make you who you are. The way you were brought up by the song dragon clan and your actions alone are what make you who you are. Do not forget that."

Jaelyn shook her head roughly, staring at Gulaonar. "You're lying. None of this is true."

"Why would I lie to you about this?"

"I...I don't know! But it has to be lies! It _has_ to be!"

"It's not. It's the truth, Jaelyn, I swear to you." Gulaonar replied calmly. "The proof is in the infant you brought here, Baeylene. You said she is Dresmor's child, did you not? Look at her, look at the similarities between the both of you. The shape of the eyes and the nose, for example, both of which you get from him."

Words spoken to her by Akereth during their journey suddenly hit her like a bolt of lightning.

_It's strange; she looks just like you somehow._

And then her own thoughts intruded.

_Gods...Baeylene! She's my...sister!_

Jaelyn sighed and hung her head, feeling heavy all of a sudden.

"There's nothing to be gained from lying to you about this, Jaelyn." Gulaonar added.

"How...How did they even meet, my parents? A surface elf would never willingly associate with a drow. They are sworn enemies." she said, hoping to at least understand the circumstances in which she was conceived.

The ghost sighed, wishing she hadn't asked that.

"They met not long after we escaped the Underdark. A group of us had escaped and once we made it to the surface, we broke into several smaller groups so we wouldn't draw attention to ourselves. Our group traveled discreetly into the Spine of the World and we stayed hidden there for a while. One day, while Dresmor was out hunting, their paths crossed. How much do you know of your mother?"

Jaelyn shook her head. "Not much. Only that she tried to have me drowned. If Weilsung knew more, I never asked. I never wanted to know."

Gulaonar nodded his understanding. "Her name was Nanethiel Sharpshadow and...she was a ranger."

"But..._no_!" was Jaelyn's shouted response, made out of complete horror.

She shot up from where she sat, her hands clenched into fists at her sides. Her entire body was trembling with both anger and growing despair. "This can't be. All this time...all this damn time! I've tried not to be her and...I _am_ her!"

Gulaonar sighed. "Calm yourself, child. You are overreacting. The only things you should be proud to have inherited from her are those beautiful green eyes and perhaps your love of nature. It made her a good ranger and it has made you a good one as well."

Jaelyn gave him a glacial look. "Loved nature? Then she should have known better than to try and drown me. She's supposed to protect life, not destroy it!"

"Stop comparing yourself to her, Jaelyn. You are not and nor will you ever be her. Nor will you ever be Dresmor."

Jaelyn sat back down with a huff and stared at the floor.

"As I was saying," Gulaonar went on. "Your parents met while Dresmor was out hunting. As he had told me, your mother had been startled by his presence. Her first instinct was to attack him. Dresmor over-powered her and brought her back to our camp. He claimed if he'd let her go, she would have gone back to wherever she'd come from and told of our presence in the mountains. Of course, this was true, but there was another reason he brought her back. I noticed something in his eyes, a fierceness I'd never seen there before. And later on that night, he told me that he felt something for her at first sight, he was in love with her despite the animosity between our races; she was the most beautiful elf he'd ever seen. It didn't matter to him whether she was a surface elf or not. But it mattered to her.

"She denied his every advance. At first, it had been humorous watching him try so hard to win her over and fail each time, but eventually, it began to frustrate and anger him. This, combined with his lust for her made for a dangerous cocktail. It only took one more rejection and he...he broke. Dresmor has always been rough around the edges, something that comes from living in the Underdark, but he had come out of that place looking for a new beginning, he came out of that place with a decent heart, but your mother broke him; her hatred for the drow, her constant rejection...she is the reason he is the way he is now. Dresmor, lost to his lust and rage, forced himself upon your mother. And you...you were-"

Jaelyn held up her hand to stop him. She didn't want to hear anymore. The whole story made her feel sick to her stomach.

Gulaonar was somewhat relieved that she stopped him. He hadn't wanted to say what he was about to say.

Jaelyn remained staring at the floor, swallowing a considerable lump that had formed in her throat. She rubbed her forehead and tried desperately to hold back the tears she felt welling up in her eyes.

This was even worse than she imagined. It truly was a nightmare; it was a nightmare she couldn't wake up from, couldn't escape. She wanted to run from it, run until her legs gave out, run to the other side of the world to put as much distance between her and this as possible.

Jaelyn shot up from her spot again, this time to leap for the door.

A hand caught her wrist before she could.

She knew who was impeding her.

Her hand curled into a fist and she clenched her teeth in anger, but she did not look at him. Even though her weakness was apparent by her sudden reaction, she still did not want him to see it on her face, how it hurt. She also knew that she would see a serious, impatient expression on his face that would make her stay. All she wanted was to escape, even if only for a moment. Why did he have to keep forcing her to face things she didn't want to face? She had done fine with running away from things. It had never once caused her any trouble. It was when she confronted things that the problems started up.

"Let me go!" she snarled.

Bishop scoffed and she felt his hand tighten around her wrist. "You think running is going to change anything? It won't, so sit down and get a damn grip on yourself."

He didn't bother to keep his voice calm. It came out as mean and cold as it usually did when she irritated him.

Jaelyn, in her anger, frustration and despair, did something she knew she was going to regret later.

She whirled about and backhanded him so hard across the face that he let her go in surprise to both the force she used and the pain it left behind.

"Jaelyn!" Quin burst in shock, staring with widened eyes between her and the now fuming ranger, who was sporting a bright red mark on his face.

"Shut up!" Jaelyn snapped at the halfling.

Quin gaped at her.

"Calm down, Jaelyn." Gulaonar said firmly. "The last thing you want is to take your anger out on your friends."

Jaelyn spun back and faced the former drow with a sneering look. "Don't tell me what I want! I'll smack whoever I damn well please and I'll yell at whoever I damn well please!"

Gulaonar shook his head, frowning. "Listen to yourself. You are becoming your father, falling victim to your own emotions. Calm down."

She said nothing. She merely crossed her arms in a childish fashion and then looked away, but she knew she was being foolish, acting off her anger, taking it out on everyone around her.

Her form sagged and she put a hand over her face, clenching her teeth in a vain effort to hold back the sob in her throat.

It came out sounding strangled.

The males let her get it all out. They couldn't really blame her for her reaction. Not many people would be throwing parades after learning that they were the product of a rape, the child of a lunatic, bent on destroying an island's entire population for a purpose no one was truly certain about. Besides, when you grow up not knowing who your parents are, you get a certain image of them in your head, you build ideas on them and speculate on who they were. She had known the type of person her mother was from the day Weilsung had told her the story about how her mother had tried drowning her in a river, but her father had always been a mystery. Even though she knew he was drow, thus very likely evil as well, she still tried to build him in her mind as a good person. Those ideas had been crushed.

Jaelyn sat down on the bed and sobbed into her hands, the sound of her despair descending on the room like a violent hurricane on a frail coastline. This was the most upset they had ever seen her.

Of all the males in the room, it was Bishop who had the strongest desire to comfort her; another alien emotion for him to deal with, but he made no move to do so. He might have acted on the urge if it was only the two of them in there, with no witnesses to his weakness, but it was not to be.

He leaned forward with his elbows on his knees, hands dangling between them and stared angrily and bitterly at the floor.

Quin scooted next to the crying drow and rubbed his hand against her back in a soothing motion.

"Come on, Jaelyn." he said gently. "It's not that bad."

Her head shot up and she glared heatedly at the halfling, who blanched and gulped at the look.

Bishop shook his head in exasperation. He was no expert when it came to other people's feelings, but even he had enough sense to know when to keep his mouth shut. Apparently, the halfling had no sense at all.

His gaze went over to Quin, a brow raised.

"Do you even think about what you're going to say before you say it?"

Quin lifted his shoulders in helpless ignorance. "What did I say?"

The ranger rolled his eyes toward the ceiling and groaned with unmistakable irritation.

Gulaonar looked down at Jaelyn, who was starting to calm down a bit, her category five hurricane-force sobs now down-graded to category one. Her cheeks were shimmering with tears, her eyes were puffy and red and her soft sobs were accompanied by the hiccups.

"It doesn't change anything about you, child." the ghost said gently.

Jaelyn looked up at him through tear-blurred eyes. "It-_huc_-changes everything!"

"Does it? What will change, Jaelyn?"

"Me!"

Gulaonar shook his head. "It will only change you if you let it. As I said, your birth parents do not make you who you are. They had no influence on your life."

She shook her head. "But he will. You said-_huc_-so yourself; I will have to stop him. How am I supposed to kill my own-_huc_-father?"

"Do not think of him as your father." Gulaonar replied. "You must get that idea out of your head. Weilsung is your father."

"You make it sound so easy. Dresmor is my blood!"

Gulaonar shook his head. "It will not be easy, but it must be done. Dresmor will never give up his purpose here. The only way to stop him is to deliver his death."

"What is his purpose?" Quin spoke up. "When the drow kidnapped me, one of them was talking about something called the Heart of the Island."

Gulaonar nodded. "It is something the natives guard with their life. As Olland explained it to me, the Heart of the Island is here, hidden deep beneath the village in a cavern. The natives believe it is truly the heart of their island, the thing which gives their island life. While I am not one to step all over another's beliefs, I know that this is false. The thing under this village is not really a heart in the bodily sense. It does, however, give this island a life of its own. I've seen it, was granted permission by Olland to visit the cavern. I've...never seen anything quite like it."

Quin stared at him with large eyes gleaming with curiosity. "What is it?"

"Magic." the former drow said. "A small pool of raw magic. I don't know how it has come to be here or how it remains in its form but it is making a fine effort at it. Dresmor learned of it from a native he caught and tortured. I...I served as an interpreter between the two, translated the man's agonized words for my brother. Not my finest moment, admittedly, but I could not have saved his life, anyway."

Jaelyn scoffed. "We don't want to hear your excuses. Just tell us what we need to know and stop wasting our time."

Her despair had transformed itself into bitter anger while the ghost talked, and its existence was evident in her tone and in the expression on her face.

She got a round of surprised, amused, and blank stares from the males.

Quin blinked. "Wow, you sounded just like-"

"Me." Bishop finished with a maniacal grin.

The halfling grinned back at him. "Yeah, that's what I was going to say."

Jaelyn, however, said nothing and her gaze never moved away from the apparition.

"Very well." Gulaonar replied curtly. "Dresmor believes he can absorb the magic from the spring. He was looking for a way to do so before he killed me. Whether he has the means to do it now or not, I don't know. I'm not willing to risk the natives lives to find out. We must stop him."

"We?" Jaelyn said, her voice offering an acidic bite. "I thought it had to be me?"

"You are the only one that can fight him, yes, but we must first figure out a way to thin the drow numbers and get to Dresmor. We can't simply walk into their midst."

"Sneak in?" Quin suggested.

Gulaonar shook his head. "The ruined temple they call home is heavily defended. When you live in the Underdark as long as we drow have, you learn how to defend yourself quick. No, we cannot sneak in."

"Then it looks like we've only got one option left." Bishop said, inserting his two cents into the Suggestion box.

All eyes turned on him expectantly.

He smirked. "Create a distraction, something that will break up their defenses long enough for us to get in."

Jaelyn snorted and rolled her eyes. "Like that'll work."

In her anger, she never noticed that the ranger was now including himself in the fight.

Bishop shrugged. "It will if it's done right."

He made a face as he got a sudden, unpleasant chill. Something weird was going on here. Usually, he was the pessimist and she was the optimist.

Gulaonar considered this plan and slowly nodded. "It could work, but it will have to be the natives that pull it off."

"Right, so instead of waiting for the drow to come to us, we take the fight to the drow." the ranger said. "It might be a big enough distraction to get us in."

"Bold." Jaelyn said. "Very bold. You want to take a small army of natives with absolutely no battle experience right into the Underdark-hardened drow's territory? You're_ insane_."

"They're dead either way." Bishop snapped at her, getting disgruntled by her uncharacteristic forbidding attitude. "At least if we take the fight to the drow, we can have a chance of getting into their temple."

She sniffed with indignation. "Whatever. I still say it's not going to work."

"Oh, really? Then let's see if you can come up with something better." he shot back. "That is, if you can stop wallowing long enough to think."

Jaelyn shot him a scathing glare that could've burned through solid steel.

He wasn't impressed. After all, he was the king of dirty looks.

Bishop met the glare and sent it right back with enough heat to make a volcano jealous.

Jaelyn was equally not impressed and she intensified her angry look in an attempt to outdo his, and of course, having a competitive(not to mention prideful) nature, the human ranger met her challenge without hesitation.

Their glare war lasted several minutes and they were practically nose to nose with each other, trying to summon their nastiest, dirtiest looks.

Looking at them now, Quin could hardly believe he had walked in on a potential kiss between the two not too long ago. But they were always like this, back and forth between love and hate.

"Uh..." Quin finally said, eying the two. "Break it up?"

"Yes," Gulaonar added, sternly. "We don't have time for this. There's a lot more you must understand, Jaelyn."

She ignored him, keeping her red tinged, green eyes on Bishop's fiery gold ones.

Quin sighed and slipped off the bed. He stepped over to the glaring duo and pushed them apart.

"Come on, guys." he said. "You can do that later. Let Gulaonar finish."

It took a moment, but Jaelyn finally gave an indignant sniff and looked away from her fellow ranger to put her heated gaze on the former drow.

"Fine." she spat. "Get on with it, then."

Frowning, Gulaonar continued.

"We will discuss our options to get into the temple later, once we learn what these natives are capable of in battle. Olland must also have a say in it; they are his people, after all."

"Then why doesn't _he_ teach them how to fight?" grumbled Bishop, who was met with a ghostly glare.

But Gulaonar said nothing to the surly ranger and ventured on, turning his gaze to Jaelyn. "In order to defeat Dresmor, you must somehow obtain his sword."

The ranger made a face. "What's the deal with this sword? As much as we keep hearing about it, it had better be worth all the hype. What does it do, cleave people in half in one stroke? We could use a weapon like that."

Gulaonar gave him a slightly amused expression.

"It's...a family heirloom." he said and began explaining to the ranger about the sword and its familial curse.

**xxxxxxxxxx**

Meanwhile, on the other side of the village, in one of the small shelters, Akereth sat across from a sexually promiscuous young woman named Petra.

She was the only woman in the village that had a reputation for sleeping with any man for a price. She was also the mother of seven illegitimate children, most of which she had either forgotten who the fathers were or the fathers were in such a high position among society that she was threatened with death if she told anyone. One of her children was actually Olland's illegitimate son, a secret she would take to her grave. She was also one of the most beautiful native women, not that that was going to matter in Akereth's plan.

The native man reached into his pocket and pulled out a small clay vial, sitting it on the wooden table.

"The plan is quite simple." he said. "I will put this in a jug of our Water of Life and leave it waiting for him in his hut. He's bound to drink it. The bastard goes through the stuff like it flows from an eternal source."

"What's in the vial?" the woman named Petra asked.

"A hallucinogenic." Akereth replied with a smirk. "It's something my father concocted not too long ago. It makes you see what you want to see. I'll also be adding a bit of an aphrodisiac, just in case."

Petra smiled. "You've really thought this through, haven't you?"

"I've been waiting to do this for a long time."

"Is she really worth all this?" the woman inquired sweetly, leaning across the table toward him. "You wouldn't need to go through all this trouble with me. I'd be quite willing."

"Yes, that's part of the problem." Akereth replied, not bothering to hide his disgust. "You're too willing. You've had almost every man in this village. I prefer women of fidelity and...morals."

Petra scoffed. "So says the man who schemes to break two lovers apart for his own selfish reasons. Has it ever occurred to you that she's just not interested in you?"

"They aren't lovers." he snapped. "And she was interested until he got in the way. I'm doing this out of revenge as much as I'm trying to make her see what kind of a man he really is."

"If this man was really like this, why are you going through so much trouble? Just sending me over there should be enough, right? So why drug him?"

"It's a precaution, that's all!" Akereth shouted at her in defense.

Petra shrugged. "So you slip this into the Water of Life, he drinks it and gets all hot and bothered, and then I show up, right?"

"Right."

"How will I know when to go to his hut?"

"I will be nearby, watching him. I'll come get you when it's time."

"What if it doesn't work?"

"It will. I made the hallucinogenic a bit more potent. When you walk into his hut, he won't know you from the real thing." Akereth replied with a wide grin.

"Then what?"

"Then you do what you do best and he will think it's her he's with. You will stay in his bed until morning. The hallucinogenic will eventually wear off in his sleep, so when morning comes, he'll be back to his old self." Akereth explained.

"And how will your plan come to its thrilling conclusion?" the woman inquired, caustically.

Akereth ignored her tone.

"Since I've been traveling with him, I've noticed that he rises early, just before dawn. I will awaken earlier than that and go see Jaelyn. Her hut is right beside his, so I'll explain to her that I saw him with another woman in his hut last night. I'll bring her out and make like I'm taking her to see him. That's when you come out."

"We will need a signal."

"I'll cough really loud. You'll be able to hear that; that'll be the signal."

Petra nodded. "All right."

Akereth smiled. "If you pull this off right, I'll make sure you're rewarded properly for it."

**xxxxxxxxxx**

Bishop blinked at Gulaonar when the former drow concluded his description of Dresmor's sword.

"So, the souls of all your ancestors are trapped inside that sword?"

"Most, not all." the ghost replied. "About four generations of our ancestors are trapped inside of it."

"And the souls give it power?"

"Great power. Through it, whoever wields the weapon, wields the skills our ancestors had in life. And we had some powerful ancestors. My father was a weapon master, his father was a weapon master, and his grandfather was a powerful mage. They pass on their power to the wielder."

The ranger smirked. "Sounds useful...if we can get our hands on it."

Gulaonar stared at him and then said sternly, "Don't get any ideas, ranger. That weapon is for Jaelyn alone. In your hands, the sword would be extremely dangerous and most likely the destruction of us all. Only in the hands of good can good be done with it."

Jaelyn had not spoken a word since Gulaonar had explained the sword to Bishop. She was currently frowning.

"But why do I have to defeat him with that sword? Won't any sword do?" Jaelyn inquired.

Gulaonar looked at her grimly, which doubled the effect since ghosts were already grim. "With the sword in your hands, it may sway the other drow to join you instead of fight you, but I wouldn't hold much hope in that. More importantly, you need the power in that sword to defeat Dresmor. Without it, he will be impossible to defeat."

"How do I get it away from him, then, when he's much more powerful than me?"

"The three of you must face him together. Three will have more of a chance than one. Fight him, distract him, do whatever you must do to get that weapon away from him. Once you have the sword, you will gain the abilities of our ancestors; you will nearly be equal to Dresmor in power and you will stand a far better chance of defeating him."

Bishop gave the former drow a calculating stare. "Why do I get the feeling you're still withholding on us, ghost?"

"I've have told you all I know." Gulaonar snapped, not liking the ranger's suspicion.

Bishop's scrutinizing stare never wavered. He wasn't falling for the ghost's tricks a second time around.

"Good, 'cause we can't afford any more nasty surprises. I, for one, don't like them, so if I find out you've been holding back, _someone's_ going to pay the price."

"Don't make threats, you fool!" Gulaonar hissed at him.

Bishop shrugged, an indifferent expression on his face. "It wasn't a threat. Well, now, looks like everything's relying on the girl who runs. That brings our chance of winning down a few notches."

Jaelyn swatted him hard on the shoulder. "Watch it!"

"I have no doubt that she can handle what is to come." Gulaonar said.

"That makes one of us."

Jaelyn frowned at Bishop. "Thank you for having so much faith in me."

He shrugged. "What, you'd rather I lie then?"

"I'd rather you be the friend I need at the moment and not the jackass we have to deal with on a daily basis."

He scowled and shook his head. "If you need someone to lean on, use the halfling. I'm not here to hold you up just 'cause you're too weak to stand on your own two feet."

"Then why are you here, other than to take up space and get on my nerves?" she snapped, angrily.

"You're lucky I'm even still here at all."

"Leave, then, if you don't like being here!" she shouted at him, standing from her spot and leaning toward him with her fists clenched at her sides. "No one's forcing you to stay! Go on over and join the drow. Hells, you'll fit in better there than you ever will here, you wretched excuse for a human being!"

She swung away, tears in her eyes and stormed out of the hut.

"Jaelyn!" Gulaonar called after her.

"Let her go."

The departed drow faced Bishop, an angry look contorting his ghostly, sylven features. "She needs us now more than ever."

"No, she needs to figure things out on her own. She doesn't need anyone."

Gulaonar stared at him for a moment and then burst into sarcastic laughter.

"No, you just don't want her to need anyone, namely you. But you're wrong." The ghost waved a dismissive hand. "What do you know what she needs, anyway? What do you even care?"

The ranger ignored the question. "And I suppose you think you know what she needs, then? I've been around her longer than you. She relies too much on her friends when she should be relying on herself, like she's been doing for most of her life."

Gulaonar shook his head. "You're quick to point out other people's flaws, or what you think are flaws, but make no effort in realizing and correcting your own. There is nothing wrong with relying on your friends. She needs you, but your pride won't allow you to accept that."

"Yeah," Quin said nodding his agreement with a grin. "He's right, you know."

"Who asked you?" Bishop said with a scowl.

The halfling shrugged. "You don't have to ask me. Anyone can see it. You could really learn a thing or two from each other if you gave it a shot."

"I fail to see how this is any of your business...or his." the ranger shot the ghost an acidic look.

"I'm her friend and he's her uncle." Quin replied. "That makes it our business. Besides, you're being a hypocrite. You're always telling her to stop running from everything, but that's exactly what you're doing."

Bishop stood up and buried the halfling in his shadow. "Don't push me. I'm not running from anything and I'm not interested in her or in anything she has to offer!"

Quin burst into a laugh despite the armed and angry physical threat looming over him. "So, you admit she has something to offer, then? And 'not interested in her'? _Really_? That's the worst lie you've told yet. Everyone else can see it, so why can't you just admit it?" Quin held the ranger's gaze and grinned. "You're in love with her."

Now it was the ranger's turn to laugh, but it didn't sound very convincing, mostly for the fact that there was sheer terror in his eyes. The laugh itself sounded forced and a little deranged.

"No, I'm not." he said, trying to keep calm. "I'm not stupid enough to-"

"Yes, you are." Quin cut him off. "Look at you, how you're behaving; you're always pushing her to face her fears, you attacked Akereth for touching her, and you're teaching her to defend herself in melee combat, for the sake of the gods! If that isn't at least caring about someone, I don't know what it is."

Bishop's body language was screaming hostility again, but this time a bit of frustration was accompanying it. "You don't know what you're talking about...either of you!"

It was his turn to storm out.

The ranger disappeared through the threshold of the hut in a violent hurricane of curses.

Quin and Gulaonar exchanged a look. The halfling shrugged his shoulders and then sighed.

"Always with the denial, that one."

Gulaonar looked thoughtfully through the open threshold.

"Yes, but if anyone can get her to stop running, it's him."

"Yeah," Quin nodded. "But who's going to get _him_ to stop running from _her_?"

"She will."

"But..."

Gulaonar shook his head, making Quin pause. "She has been adamant in her effort to open him up to her. She won't quit now; quitting is not something Jaelyn does. I only hope her efforts are not for nothing. Those who resign themselves to their fate are rarely capable of being swayed from their belief. That man gave up on everything a long time ago; he believes in nothing good. And that is what she needs, for someone she really cares about to believe in her."

"But...I believe in her. Why isn't that enough?"

Gulaonar regarded the halfling with a small smile. "Because a good deal of the time, she is guided by her emotions, and what she feels for you isn't the same as what she feels for him. She loves you, but it is the kind of love between siblings. The way she loves him, it's more powerful and...effective. Love can often be a weakness, as we have learned from Dresmor's story, but it can also be a strength, as I hope we learn from Jaelyn's, and if there is truly anything good left in him, perhaps Bishop's as well. They both control the outcome; whatever decisions they make regarding each other is going to change everything. We can only sit by and pray that it changes for the better."

"How do you know all this?"

Gulaonar grinned. "Being dead and earthbound has its advantages."


	31. Chapter 31: Freedom

**xxxxxx**

* * *

**Chapter Thirty-One:**

**Freedom**

**xxxxxx**

**Jaelyn** had no idea what to do.

She had left the village and, lost among the army of thoughts marching in her mind, she had unknowingly traveled a few miles away from it.

She was currently pacing about on a cliff that overlooked the ocean, wondering how and why all this could be happening to her. One moment, the only thing she had to worry about was training the natives, but now, to save a civilization from total annihilation, she had to wield a cursed weapon with the souls of her ancestors trapped inside of it to kill her own father.

To make matters worse, she had a baby sister she had no idea what to do with and she was in love with a man who was too much of a coward to return her feelings.

She just wanted to go home.

She was seriously regretting ever coming to this damn island. In fact, she was pretty much regretting ever leaving her mountain home.

Escape from the island was impossible. The magic barrier prevented that and she had no form of transportation in any case. This time, she knew she couldn't run away; there was no where to run to, but it didn't change the fact that she wanted to. Nothing had ever made her want to run away more.

Jaelyn paused in her frantic back-and-forth and heaved out a sigh. She faced the the edge of the cliff and peered over the drop, contemplating the jagged rocks. She shook her head, surprised by the dark thought that flitted across her brain.

No, even though the despair, fear, hurt, and anger inside her was great, she couldn't kill herself. That was just ridiculous.

She backed away from the edge and then sat down in the grass, pulling her knees up to her chest. She wrapped her arms tight around them and stared out at the sluggish moving ocean. She realized for the first time that the island seemed to be slowing down along its path to where ever in the hells it was going. The water used to crash violently against the invisible magic barrier, but now it was barely being tossed against it.

It was beautiful to look at, the ocean; the moonlight reflected off the surface and made the water appear like liquid silver. It was almost calming. Almost.

It would be a while before Jaelyn was truly calm again, and as she reflected on the nights events, she knew she was going to have a great deal of apologizing to do to her friends, though she doubted she was done taking her anger out on them. Or at least one of them.

_You hit him again. You hit him harder than you ever have before._

Jaelyn snorted at her conscience trying to make her feel guilty. So what if she hit him? He deserved it.

_No, even if he did keep you from escaping, he didn't deserve to be smacked like that._

She grit her teeth. Why was it this stupid man always found a way to make her feel guilty when _he_ was wrong?

Jaelyn sighed deeply.

Time passed her by as she sat there, brooding. She had no idea how long she had been out there when she noted the sudden change in the air. It carried a new scent with it, a scent so familiar it made her ache inside.

She heaved another sigh and buried her face in her arms.

What did he want? As much as she adored the bastard, she really wasn't looking forward to his company at the moment. She didn't want anyone's company.

He was standing behind her. She had not heard him move, but instead noted how his natural scent got stronger as he closed in.

There had been silence before he had even gotten there, but now that same silence carried an awkwardness with it. Jaelyn didn't bother looking over her shoulder to acknowledge his presence or to keep the anger out of her voice when she spoke.

"Get lost."

To her surprise, Bishop didn't reply, but she could almost see in her mind's eye that disapproving look on his face her words most certainly had brought up.

Silence.

Then he moved. He moved until he was at her side and then he sat in the grass with her, resting his elbows on his bent knees. He peered out at the ocean for a long time and said nothing. There was a thoughtful dent in his brow.

Jaelyn shifted uncomfortably. The silence was suffocating.

She stood up.

"Fine. Then I'll leave."

"Yeah," he finally spoke with a disdainful tone in his voice. "Of course, you will. You're _always_ leaving, _always_ running. Well, looks like running isn't an option for you anymore, drow, so you might as well just give it up."

She had been in the midst of walking away from him, but at his words, she froze. Every muscle in her body tensed as anger coursed through her.

"Shut up." she spat. "I don't want to hear it anymore!"

But deep down, underneath the anger and fear, she knew he was right. She couldn't run anymore. Even if there was somewhere to run to, how many people would pay for her cowardice? How many lives would be lost? She had no choice; she would never allow anyone to die because of her.

And she was so fed up with him pushing her to confront her fear when he refused to face his own. If she had to stop running, then he had to stop hiding behind his walls. And it was going to stop now.

Jaelyn turned back and faced him with a glare. He was standing now, staring at her unpleasantly. Even still, he looked so incredibly handsome; those dark and dangerous good looks were only enhanced by the moonlight that bathed him. For a moment, she lost all train of thought, couldn't remember what she was going to say.

She shook her head, closed her eyes for a moment to gather herself and then resumed glaring at him. "You don't have the right to harp on about my running when you do it, too!"

"I don't run from anything, drow."

She scoffed. "You're more of a coward than I am when you get right down to it. I run, yes, but at least I don't hide, too."

Bishop rose a brow. "And you presume that I do?" He rolled his eyes skyward and scoffed. "Right."

"Yes, you hide, so don't stand there and pretend like you don't. We've already had a discussion about that once before. Any time you're faced with any emotion other than anger, you cower in that defensive fortress you've built around yourself."

He laughed at her. It was a forced laugh. "Ah, here we go. Was wondering when you were going to start on this again. You seem to not want to understand, drow. Or maybe you're just too damn stupid to understand. I'm not hiding from anything, 'cause there's nothing to hide from!"

She snorted and replied in a tone brimming with sarcasm, "Nothing, huh? I guess there was a whole lot of nothing going on between us when we were in your hut earlier."

"It meant nothing to me." he countered, coldly, stubbornly, and with a shrug.

"Yeah, I could see all that nothing in your eyes. I could feel all that nothing in your touch."

Her words sparked his anger, his defensive response when he got cornered, and Jaelyn had backed him into a very tight corner.

"Shut your trap, drow, before I do it for you." he growled at her as his hands curled into fists.

She grinned nastily at him. "Oh, touchy. It seems I was right on the mark. I guess you getting angry at Quin for interrupting us was nothing, too, huh?"

"I am warning you..."

"Oh, really? How surprising, you hiding behind threats. You've been called out, Bishop. How does it feel to have a taste of your own medicine for once? How does it feel having to face something you don't want to face?"

He couldn't believe her, couldn't believe she had the guts to go this far.

"That does it!" he yelled at her in a sudden passion, his face contorting into an expression of both rage and fear.

He took a few threatening steps toward her, but Jaelyn stood her ground. She didn't flinch under his scathing expression.

"I'm only doing what you do to me." she said, her calm unsettling him even further. "What are you so upset about, anyway? If you feel nothing like you say, then this shouldn't even bother you. It should just roll right off your back."

He said nothing, merely stood there with his fist clenched so hard at his sides that his knuckes paled. And for the first time, she saw his conflict, the turmoil she put in him. He just couldn't hold it back anymore. And she just couldn't understand it.

"Why do you keep fighting it?"

Bishop shook his head, his expression turning from anger to disgust. "Did you learn nothing from what that ghost told you about your own parents? Love is foolishness; it's a weakness, and it'll end bad, anyway. It always does. It's not worth it."

In his deep frustration, he never noticed what he had inadvertently revealed to her.

Jaelyn smiled. "So, you admit to love?"

Realization dropped on him like a boulder. Had he just...? Bloody Hells!

There was a flash of terror in his eyes as they widened.

"No!" he cried in a desperate panic. "I...Hells no! I wasn't saying that. That wasn't what I meant...Stop twisting my words, damn you!"

Jaelyn laughed. She couldn't help it. She knew teasing him at this particular moment was probably not the best idea, but she couldn't help that either.

"That was very convincing, Bishop. You've put the idea right out of my head."

"Shut up!" he growled at her viciously. "I don't have to stand around here and listen to this nonsense!"

He began storming off, but Jaelyn laughed again and caught him up, her hand wrapping around his arm.

"What, you can dish out the teasing but you can't take it yourself?" she said as she slipped in front of him.

"Get out of my way!"

There was a lot of hostility in his voice. It had also taken over his face and set a fire in his eyes.

She firmly held her ground and gazed up at him with steel, fearless determination. She was not going to back down, no matter what he did. Not now, not ever.

"Now look who's running."

Without warning, he took her into a violent grip, his fingers digging so painfully into her upper arms that she couldn't stifle a gasp and a slight wince. Even still, that fearless determination remained in her eyes.

And it dawned on him. She was not going to give up; he could push her to the ends of the world, and she would still come back for him. Of all the things she could not run away from, why did it have to be him?

He was about to thrust her out of his way, but even with his violent grip on her, she found a way to press herself against him. Maybe he let her. The closeness, the warmth and feel of her against him robbed him of sensible thought. He could feel the small curves of her breasts against his chest and the flutter of her heart through their touch. It all left him breathless.

She gazed up at him with the same yearning he felt, the same yearning that was currently blowing his mind. There was no timidness, no shyness to what she was doing; she knew what she was doing and he knew what she was asking for.

No one knew where they were, either, so there would be no interruptions, no one getting in the way. It was just them on that cliff, under the moonlight. Perfect.

"If you feel what I feel, then you will know it is no weakness." she said, her voice soft, sweet. "If some part of you didn't want this, you wouldn't feel anything at all. And don't even try denying it. It'll be a lie and you damn well know it."

He no longer had the strength to deny anything anymore. She had drained all his willpower, all that strength that had taken him years to gather, just by pressing up against him.

_Damn drow. I hate her!_

And yet it wasn't hate he felt accompanying that thought, it wasn't hate that quickened his blood. It wasn't hate that had a part of him feeling relieved to finally be giving in. It was as if a heavy burden had been lifted from him. It was something he had felt only once before, in the smoldering ruins of the village that made him who and what he was. He had lain among the dead, on the brink of death himself. He remembered well the stench of death all around him, the rancid smell of burning flesh, the screaming, the pleas, and the pain of his numerous wounds; more than one of them had been life-threatening. But those things were overshadowed by the feeling inside him. What he had done there in his village had freed him of the shackles binding him to his past, to his place in Luskan, to all the things he had been forced to do to survive. No one could hold him down anymore, no one could hold him back. He had been freed. Until the shadow fell over him, a witness to his deeds. The man had saved his life, granted, but the bastard had shackled him once again and Bishop was again denied his freedom, the freedom he had destroyed his home and spilled innocent blood for. He feared he'd never know that freedom again, but he was feeling it now.

The more he gave in to her, the more the weight on him seemed to lift.

How was it possible that something like this should give him what he truly wanted, what his very soul longed for? It had nearly taken his own death to achieve it the first time. Now it only took this woman, this drow.

Bishop loosened his grip on her. One hand came up against her cheek, caressed her dark skin which felt like silk under his fingers. Jaelyn leaned her face into his touch, her eyes closing on a soft sigh. For a moment, he merely stared at her, waiting to see if the moment would be rudely interrupted again. He took in her beautiful dark sylven features and found his heart pounding with more than just the anticipation and excitement of the moment.

Time abandoned them and the world did not butt in.

Bishop drew his hand under her chin, tilting her face up. She opened her eyes just in time to see it.

He was smiling, smiling in a way that lit up his entire face. She would never forget that smile, nor what came next.

Slowly, he descended and pressed his mouth against hers in a surprisingly chaste and tender kiss. But that was not meant to last long.

The magic between them, mixed with their intense longing, took hold.

His hand slid from her face to the back of her neck to brace her for what he could no longer hold back. All he had restrained since setting eyes on her, all he felt for her, rushed through him, ran hot in his veins.

His fingers slipped into her hair, curling around the snow-white strands and he made a desperate sound as his mouth pressed harder, almost painfully, against hers. He felt her arms slip under his, her hands moving up his back to his shoulders and he was grateful that she hadn't been startled by his sudden aggression.

He tried to be gentle; after all, she was not used to this and he didn't want to scare her off again, but it was nearly impossible.

Bishop had assumed that he'd be rid of his desires for the drow once he sated them, or at the least, maybe they could be tempered, but that had been a wrong assumption. With each passing second his mouth remained against hers, the desire in him grew even stronger. He truly feared that his heart would give out under the stress or that he was going to lose control of himself and ravish her silly, whether she was ready for it or not.

It definitely didn't help him either when he felt her lips part timidly under his, inviting him to an even deeper kiss.

Surprised as he was that she had made the bold move first, he was not about to refuse that invitation.

His tongue slipped passed her teeth and found hers eager to make contact. He was beginning to wonder if she truly was as innocent as she acted.

She tasted good, bitter and sweet, and her tongue was soft against his. She gave a soft moan and one of her hands moved from his shoulder to the back of his neck. It stayed there for a moment, and then Bishop felt her nails gliding up the sensitive skin there until her fingers disappeared into his hair. The mere touch sent all his blood rushing south, awakening his deeper carnal needs. He groaned from deep in his chest and it was a purely animal sound.

The hand in her hair clenched even tighter around the locks and the kiss turned even more rough with his desperation. His other hand slipped to the small of her back as he pressed his hips forward against hers, wanting her to feel just exacty what it was she was doing to him.

The intimate contact made her whimper softly in alarm, but he wasn't about to stop there.

Before she knew it, he had her bottom lip between his teeth, sucking on it greedily while his deft fingers, now made impatient with his growing need, began to loosen the buckles and lacings on the front of her leather armor. He wanted to touch her; he _had_ to touch her.

Jaelyn's heart sped up in fear. Though a good part of her really wanted him to undress her, lay her in the grass and make love to her, she knew it was too soon for that. Besides, they didn't have the proper protection.

She brang her hands forward, pushed against his chest to get him to stop.

Bishop's immediate reaction to her resistance was to fight back against it. As she tried to push him away, his hands began pulling more violently at her clothes. He was losing control over himself.

Jaelyn's hands balled into fists against his chest. She didn't want to hurt him, but she would if she was forced to.

With great effort, she was finally able to wrench her face away to break the intense kiss, but by this time, he already had her tunic open.

He pulled the garment over her shoulders and buried his face against her neck while one hand quested up to her breast, his fingers stroking her gently.

Jaelyn bit her lip, but moaned all the same as she felt that familiar fire burning in her lower stomach.

When he began trailing feverish kisses along the sensitive skin of her throat and along her jawline, giving her a lustful bite every now and then, Jaelyn found herself dangerously close to losing control and letting him take her all the way. The pleasure his mouth was inducing began to cloud her mind and made her feel drunk, delirious even. If she didn't get him to stop soon, it was going to be too late.

"Too fast...stop..." she gasped when he gave her another playful bite, and even as she spoke those words, she arched into him as an intense shiver coursed down her spine and her skin broke out in goosebumps.

Gods, his mouth felt good.

Somehow Bishop was able to gather enough brain cells together to form a single word and get it sent to his mouth, which was still in the midst of assaulting her neck.

"...can't." His voice was nothing more than a thick growl, and she felt his breath, which came out labored, warm on her neck.

Her hands found his shoulders and she tried pushing him back again, but his arms slipped around her and he held her painfully tight against him, preventing her from escaping.

"Bishop, _stop_."

It took a moment, but he finally noted the fear in her voice, the alarm in it.

Growing sober, he stopped, pulling his face away from her neck to look at her. No matter how much he wanted her, he would never force himself on her. Not even a cold-blooded bastard like him could do that, not to her.

Jaelyn's breath lodged firmly in her throat.

It wasn't that look of desperate longing she saw in his face that had left her breathless. It was the intense passion burning in his eyes. She had never seen such a look on him before. Had she really put that fire in his eyes? Did she really have this effect on him?

"Damn it." he swore, softly, frustration beginning to creep into his expression.

He reluctantly let go of her and turned away with his back to her. Jaelyn took this moment to pull her tunic back over her shoulders and quickly laced it and buckled it in place. She was surprised to feel a bit of disappointment in doing so. She watched him for a moment, as he stared out at the ocean.

The hurricane of emotions was still raging inside him and Bishop seriously doubted it would calm anytime soon. He had never felt like this before.

Kissing her had made it all worse now. Instead of tempering his need, it had deepened it so that now he could feel that burning ache down to his bones and, deeper still, into his very soul. It hurt in a way he couldn't explain.

He wanted to scream at her for making him stop, he wanted to blame her for the pain he felt. It was her fault, after all, getting under his skin the way she had, making him want her, making him feel something for her, making him...

He shook his head roughly, his hands clenching into fists at his sides.

"Typical woman." he finally spoke, his voice holding its usual rough edge, but now accompanied by a slight waver. "Throws herself at you for attention and the minute you give it to her, she cries rape."

He turned sharply then and Jaelyn was startled by the look on animosity and disgust on his face and the searing fire in his eyes that no longer had anything to do with passion.

She opened her mouth to explain, but he cut her off.

"Doesn't matter what race you are, you women are all the same."

Bishop moved past her, but Jaelyn grabbed onto his arm, giving him a livid expression when he glared down at her.

"That's not what happened and you damn well know it!"

He laughed in her face. "Oh, really? That's what it looked like to me."

"You were moving too fast. It scared me." she admitted. "I won't lie; a part of me wanted it, but it would have been reckless and stupid to continue without the proper precautions. You probably know that better than I do."

He knew she had a point. He had lost his self-control, lost himself in her and if she hadn't gotten him to stop, they would've made a horrible mistake. The last thing he needed was a kid.

He felt a little calmer now, but not much.

"Guess you're right."

Jaelyn smiled and took his hand in hers. "Let's stay here for a while."

He withdrew his hand, shook his head, and spoke in a distant voice. "I'm heading back before that ghost starts fretting our absence. Last thing I want to hear is a lecture from him."

Jaelyn hung her head in disappointment and nodded. "Okay. I'm going to stay for a little while longer."

Bishop merely shrugged and turned to head back to the village. He got about half way from the cliff and then did the very thing he swore he'd never do again; but then, there were many things he'd done this night that he had sworn he'd never do. What was one more?

He looked back to see her sitting in the grass now, her knees pulled up against her chest and her arms wrapped around them.

Bishop stood there for several minutes, considering her and the two choices that came to light. He could just walk away and try to forget what had happened here tonight, even if he knew it would be impossible. Or he could stay there with her, knowing he couldn't touch her the way he wanted to, or lay her back in the grass and make her his. Either choice would end the same; he would still be left high and dry.

So walk away or stay with her?

The decision came surprisingly quick.

**xxxxxxxxxx**

They both returned to the village sometime later to find it dark, save for a few lit torches around the village center. There was only one hut still lit up far on the east side of the village, where a bunch of the crude structures were clumped together.

The two rangers headed for their own huts.

Dawn was only three hours away. They had spent a good deal of time up on the cliff, watching the stars and the ocean. The conversations they'd had were insignificant and unenlightening, but it didn't matter to either one of them. They simply enjoyed the company of the other.

When they reached their respective 'homes', they merely stood there together for a few moments, staring at one another.

"Well, thanks for keeping me company." Jaelyn said, smiling.

Bishop shrugged. "It wasn't anything, drow. Just passing the time."

"Well, thanks for passing the time with me, then."

She grinned when he started to scowl, but then his look died as soon as it had been born and he just settled for rolling his eyes and giving her a faint smirk.

"Go to bed, drow." he said. "You're going to need all the sleep you can get."

She nodded her agreement. "You're probably right."

"Aren't I always?"

Jaelyn laughed, not becuase of how self-centered he sounded, but because it was true. Unfortunately, he was right a good deal of the time, the bastard.

"Well, then," she said as she stepped closer to him.

She stood up on her toes, touching his shoulders, and kissed the corner of his mouth.

When she stepped back again, he noticed by the darkening of her cheeks that she was blushing.

"Goodnight, Bishop."

She didn't wait for his response as she turned and disappeared behind the curtain of her hut.

Bishop stood there for a moment, fighting off the maddening urge to follow her in there and throw her on her bed.

He was in a fine mess now.

He had failed in sating his desire for her, and now to top it all off, he was aroused in a way that only a woman could cure. Or to be more precise, it was in a way that only a certain woman could cure.

He had made plans to get himself laid when he got back to the village, but he already knew he couldn't do that, not now. In a village this small, Jaelyn was bound to find out and he didn't want to...well, there was no use in denying it, not after tonight. He didn't want to hurt her.

_Perfect. She's got you wrapped around her finger._

He gave an inward groan at the thought, gritting his teeth, then he turned and went inside his own shelter.

Damn drow, making him feel. He was fine not caring about anything but himself; why did she have to go and worm her way inside?

_If some part of you didn't want this, you wouldn't feel anything at all_, is what she had told him.

It was true, no matter how much he hated it. The kiss had pretty much proved to him what he felt and what he wanted. And when was the last time he had felt this way about anyone?

There had been a girl once, long ago, in his home village. Beautiful, she had been; stunning red hair she always held back in a ponytail, skin like porcelain with freckles on her shoulders and a dash of them on her nose, eyes like emeralds, and a smile that dimpled her cheeks. She always wore this yellow dress with pink flowers on it. It was ugly, but she had made it beautiful. They had started out as friends, but it quickly became something else. Then he had murdered his mentor and was forced to leave without saying goodbye to her. And when he returned years later to burn the place down, she hadn't been living there anymore and no one would tell him where she had gone. It was just as well; he probably wouldn''t have been able to destroy the place with her there and she probably wouldn't have let him. She was the first and only girl he had ever loved.

But what he felt for the drow seemed to eclipse what he'd felt for the village girl. The feelings were the same, but they were stronger and seemed to reach much deeper, and into places he didn't know existed.

It felt good, incredible even, but it was also terrifying. He did things for this drow that he'd never done for anyone else before. How much further would he go for her? Protect her, defend her? He'd already done that once. Fight for her?...Die for her?

He sighed heavily and began removing all his armor, freeing himself from the confines of his clothes. Afterward, he flopped back onto the bed and closed his eyes.

But sleep would not come. He could still feel those wild, unrestrained emotions he'd felt up there on that cliff, that overwhelming sense of emotional freedom. And he could see them, pressed together, kissing. He could still feel her lips, burning againt his, her body pressed against his and the magic that had flowed around them and through them.

He was in trouble. He was really in trouble.

Bishop opened his eyes and scowled at the crude cieling. He caught something out of the corner of his eye.

Some generous fool had left him a bottle of that superb native whiskey. Now, that was exactly what he needed.

He stood, grabbed the bottle off the table and returned to the cool, thin sheets of his bed. He sat with his back against the wall, a pillow cushioning it and with the bed sheets pooled loosely around his waist.

Bishop drank deeply and quickly and it wasn't long before he was pleasantly numb. His head was spinning, his vision was blurry and it was becoming exceedingly difficult to keep his eyes open.

But he felt nothing and just as he was about to let that blissful nothing lull him to sleep, he heard the curtain across the threshold move.

He opened his eyes to see a blurry version of the drow standing there, dressed in that white skirt and top, the outfit that made her look like an angel.

A clearer image of her invaded his mind. His breath lodged in his throat.

She moved from the threshold toward him and he was aware of, even in his drunken state, how quick and hard his heart was beating. He could hear it in his ears and feel it in his veins.

And he was becoming aroused.

There was no hesitation from her. She moved with purpose. She joined him on his bed and straddled him.

Bishop sucked in a breath of surprise and he dropped the bottle of whiskey on the floor. His hands found her thighs, moving along them, the skin smooth under his calloused fingers.

"What're you-" he began but the rest of his question was smothered against her mouth.

There was something different about the kiss; something missing, something wrong.

His hands came to her shoulders and he tried to push her back, but one of her hands threaded through his hair and tilted his head back to deepen the kiss while her other hand slipped beneath the bed sheets.

Her sensual touch set his blood on fire and it vaporized the doubt trying to creep past his drunkeness.

A deep groan escaped him and he pulled one arm around her waist to roll her beneath him. He kissed her hard and when she lifted her hands to touch him again, he pinned them down to the bed, sliding his fingers in between hers.

After a moment, he broke the kiss and nuzzled her neck, trailing his lips across her sensitive skin. Some deeper part of him was aware that her scent had changed, that the undertone of jasmine in her hair and on her skin was no longer present, but he was too drunk and too desperate to care.

He only wanted to make her his.


	32. Chapter 32: The Morning After

**xxxxxx**

* * *

**Chapter Thirty-Two:**

**The Morning After**

**xxxxxx**

**He** awoke with the worst headache ever and a mouth that felt as if it were full of sand.

With a groan, he cautiously peeled one eye open and then quickly shut it.

_Too bright._

Bishop shifted and became aware of a few things.

First, the muscles in his thighs, arms and lower back ached. There was only one activity he could think of that would have those places hurting. The second thing was solid proof that he had indeed done that specific activity. He was not alone in his bed.

There was a warm body pressed against his back, another leg wrapped around his, and an arm slung over his waist.

He took in that feel, the feminine curves against him, the warmth of a woman, and he smiled. There was a strange feeling inside his chest, as if a hoard of butterflies were caged inside him, desperately seeking freedom.

_Finally. She's mine._

But he frowned as he tried to recall last night's activities and came up with only a hazy image of Jaelyn standing at his door. If he'd wanted this for so long, why couldn't he remember sleeping with her? Why couldn't he recall the acts of pleasure?

Everything was a blur after he took to the bottle. He'd been drunk before, but not so drunk that he couldn't remember anything. Only drinking Gibbering Lich was capable of vaporizing his memory, and what he had drunk last night couldn't have been the Lich, not on this remote island.

Well, maybe a second time around with her would jog his memory.

With a grin and with his eyes still closed against the harsh morning light, he turned over and blindly sought to tangle his hands in those silky white strands.

His fingers slipped into something else.

The hair he touched was long and straight. It wasn't the tangles he loved. When he opened his eyes, he found out why.

He winced against the harsh sunlight and tried to ignore his throbbing head. When he could endure the light and his vision focused, he found himself looking into a beautiful, smiling face.

Unfortunately, it wasn't Jaelyn's.

He jerked back in surprise and nearly fell out of the bed.

The dark-haired, blue-eyed beauty gave him a seductive smile and ran her hand up and down his chest.

Bishop stared at her in confusion. He had no idea what was going on or who she was. He'd never seen her before in his life. This was not who had come to him last night.

_I remember Jaelyn standing there, not this wench. What in the hells is going on?_

The woman drew close and trailed kisses along his jawline as her hand crept below the sheets.

Confusion gave way to anger as he grabbed the woman's wrist, his fingers sinking so deep into her skin that she gave a pained moan and reflexively tried to jerk out of his grip. He shoved her hand away.

Why couldn't he remember this woman being here, coming to him? Why did he keep seeing Jaelyn?

A sound outside drew his attention. It was a cough. His keen hearing then picked up the sound of Akereth's voice and then, to his complete horror, Jaelyn's. This day was starting out nice.

_If she finds you in here with her like this, that's it for you._

That he even gave a damn was really irritating, but he did give a damn and if didn't do something about the woman and quick, he was going to be in a lot of trouble.

Bishop threw aside the sheets and was up in a flash.

The native woman moved right along with him, but he wasn't paying her any attention. He moved in a hurry across the hut and picked up his trousers where he'd left them by the threshold and slipped one leg in. He was working on trying to get the other leg in when the stupid wench decided to come after him with lecherous intent.

Damn his good looks and sex appeal.

She literally threw herself at him and he lost his balance. He made a desperate grab for the threshold's frame, but missed it entirely. They both fell backward through the threshold, nearly taking the curtain down with them. The woman landed on top of him and she was still very naked and he was still only half way into his pants.

Bishop didn't want to look. He really didn't want to look, but he didn't really have a choice, either.

Sure enough, Akereth and Jaelyn stood a few feet away, staring at them. This was just his damn luck.

Bishop tried to look as innocent as possible, but that feat was incredibly difficult with a naked woman on top of you.

It took a few moments to make it past her disbelief, but it finally dawned on Jaelyn what was going on here.

A pained look came across her features, but it was gone as quick as it had come and then there was nothing there at all. Her eyes ratted her face out, however. They glistened with the hurt of his betrayal, but underneath the pain was the furnace of her anger.

She stared straight into his eyes and she didn't have to speak for him to know what she was saying, what she was thinking.

_You treacherous bastard._

She turned away, but Akereth tried to stop her, putting a hand on her shoulder.

Jaelyn smacked it off and walked on, her hands clenched into tight fists at her sides.

Bishop wrestled the laughing woman off of him, struggled to his feet and pulled his leg into his pants finally. He simmered as he buckled them up.

"What in the hells is going on?"

He only got blank, confused stares from the two natives, not that he was paying them any attention.

His gaze followed the drow where she was departing into the southern woods, her form so rigid you could shape a diamond on her.

Bishop noted that her animal companion wasn't following her. Good, at least he wouldn't be torn apart, then. Although it was probably only a matter of time and there was a good chance the drow would do it herself.

He didn't bother with his boots as he went after the drow. A few scratches or a stubbed toe would be worth it if he could get her to listen to him. He had a feeling that task would be beyond him.

Bishop finally caught up to her and she made him soon regret it.

When he reached out and caught her arm to stop her, she swung around fast and he was met with her fist.

The blow caught him by surprise, although he had been expecting some kind of physical retaliation. He just hadn't expected it to be this painful. It made his head spin for a moment and he could taste blood from where his teeth had cut the inside of his cheek.

He turned his head, spat the blood out and then felt around inside his mouth to make sure his teeth were all accounted for. He then looked at her, into the blazing fury that was her eyes.

"Done now?"

Jaelyn showed him how unintelligent those words were.

She snarled at him and he saw true Underdark drow in her. It was a hostile, vicious thing standing in front of him. It was almost scary.

She cocked her fist and hit him again, harder and actually succeeded in making him openly wince, not to mention bleed again.

Of course, he could have easily stopped her; he didn't want to. Even though he had no idea how he'd ended up in bed with that native woman, he still had the strangest feeling that he deserved this and he couldn't figure out why.

"Stay away from me!"

"Just shut up and listen to me."

"Why should I?" Her hands were clenched so tight. "Huh? So I can listen to some...some..._excuse_? No, thanks!"

"Look, I don't even know what-"

"I can't believe you would do this to me, especially after last night." There was deep pain in her voice as she spoke and she slowly shook her head, her brows creased. "No. You know what? I can believe it. Akereth was right about you. You're just a selfish bastard. All you care about is yourself."

"Listen!" he shouted, staring hard into her eyes.

Now he had her attention. She blinked at him in surprise.

"I don't even know who that woman is." he went on, angry and frustrated and desperate. "Or how she ended up in my hut. I don't even know what's going on. I don't remember..."

For a long moment, Jaelyn said nothing and he really thought she was going to believe him, but then she burst into a bitter laugh. "That's a pretty bad excuse, even for you. How very convenient that you should get amnesia the moment you decide to betray me."

He scoffed. "Betray you? And how do you figure that? That kiss didn't make us husband and wife, drow."

Bishop knew before the words even left his mouth that he shouldn't have said that.

She stared at him with glittering eyes, wounded. Her jaw was clenched tight and the hurt was written into her expression; she didn't bother hiding it.

"You're right, of course. It didn't, but I was foolish enough to think it meant something to you."

_It did_, he wanted to tell her, _more than you know_, but the words wouldn't come out. He didn't know how to say them.

"I know what you were _really_ after, now." she continued, her face contorting unpleasantly as her anger regrouped. "And when I wouldn't give it to you, you went and found someone else who would."

"I thought she was you." he admitted, even though he knew she wasn't going to believe it. He couldn't blame her, either. It sounded ridiculous even to him. But it was still the truth.

Jaelyn rolled her eyes. "Of course, because we look exactly alike. You're pathetic."

She stepped around him, unable to stand another moment with him, but he reached out and caught her arm.

Jaelyn tried to tear herself away from him, but he grabbed her shoulders in a painfully tight grip and made her face him.

"Listen to me, damn you." he growled at her. "I don't know what in the hells is going on, but I know it was you I was with last night."

She sneered at him. "Oh, really? Then I must be the one with amnesia because I sure as the hells don't remember being with you. Now let me go!"

He wouldn't. He refused to let her go until she believed him.

"I'm telling you the truth." he said in a severe tone of voice and then in his desperation to get her to believe him, he began to tell her what he could remember. "I was drinking-"

"Big surprise there."

"Shut up, drow and let me speak."

Jaelyn nodded, curtly. "Oh, by all means. It's been a while since I've heard a good story and this one should be excellent."

He sighed in irritation. For once he was trying to do the right thing and she wouldn't even give him a chance.

"This isn't a joke."

Jaelyn glared at him. "Do you see me laughing?"

"Look, I was drinking a bit to help me go to sleep. When I started nodding off, I heard someone at the door. When I looked, you were standing there in that white skirt and top you're always flouncing about in. You came over, got in bed with me, started kissing me..."

He paused, a dent forming in his brow and he finally released her as something important leaped into his brain.

"There was something weird about that kiss...something off, like it was missing something. Can't remember anything else after that."

Jaelyn shook her head. She couldn't believe him, she just couldn't. It all sounded ridiculous to her. How could he remember things up until he screwed that native woman, then remember nothing at all? If what he was telling her had any truth to it at all, which she doubted, then how in the hells could he not remember? He had gotten drunk, but being drunk didn't make you lose your memory, at least not permanently, and it was certainly no excuse for what he had done. No, he had bedded the native woman because she wouldn't give herself to him like he wanted, like he'd been after since they first met. And he had gotten caught in the act, so now he was making up pathetic lies to try to excuse himself.

Well, she wasn't falling for it.

"You know, for someone as cunning as you are, you'd think you could come up with a better lie than that."

"I'm not lying, damn you!" he shouted at her.

"No, because you never lie or anything."

The sarcasm was not lost on him.

"Fair enough. I lie on occasion, everyone does, but have I ever lied to you?"

Jaelyn hated to admit it, but she knew he had her there.

"As far as I know, no, you've never lied to me, but that doesn't mean you're not lying now. You have more reason to lie now than you have any other time."

"Is that so? Don't be too sure, drow. If I had knowingly bedded her, I wouldn't bother hiding it from you; no reason to."

"Oh, really? I think we both know that's a lie. If I knew you had slept with another woman, then there would be no chance in the hells that I'd sleep with you."

He scoffed angrily. "Fine. Think what you want, drow, but I'm going to figure out what happened and when I do..._you're_ the one that's going to be sorry."

"We already know what happened. You let something other than your brain make a decision for you."

She stepped passed him, glaring and he didn't bother stopping her.

It wouldn't have made any difference. The stubborn drow refused to listen to or believe him. He didn't exactly have a record for being an upstanding guy, but she could have at least considered that he might be innocent. Somehow he had to prove it, that he had no idea who this other woman was or how he could have bedded her without himself knowing it. And when he did prove it, he was going to rub it in Jaelyn's face.

Bishop stood there a moment longer, trying his best to ignore the sting in his heart, but only succeeded in making himself even angrier with her and himself. Her disbelief in him, in his innocence, hurt and he was angry that he let it hurt.

**xxxxxxxxxx**

Proving his innocence was not going to be an easy task.

The fact was he _had_ slept with the native woman. The evidence of that was obvious. What he had to prove was his intention and he had no idea how to go about doing it.

After dressing and arming himself, Bishop made his way across the village, his mind racing, desperately trying to seek out answers.

_If I did this woman, why in the hells do I keep seeing the drow standing there at the door? Makes no damn sense. They look nothing alike._

How in the Nine Hells could he mistake the two?

There was no way. There had to be another explanation and he knew who he had to get it from, who he would _bleed_ it from if he had to.

But first, he had to find the wraith. He was going to need a translator.

Pausing, Bishop scanned the village for Gulaonar.

The ghost was hovering just outside the council longhouse where Olland and a handful of his people were all gathered, engaged in conversation. Jaelyn was among them, standing off to the side, her head down. As usual, when she was upset about something, she withdrew into herself. The halfling was at her side, trying to get her to talk, but she was doing a good job of ignoring him.

Bishop wondered how far into herself she had gone to be able to ignore the runt's constant, aggravating chatter. More over, he wondered if she would ever come out again.

Why should he even care when she wouldn't believe him? No, he was going to prove her wrong, he was going to rub it in her face, and be done with it. It was stupid, anyway, to give in the way he had. Giving in to bloody woman! He'd warned her it would end bad and here it was, ending bad before it barely got started.

Better now than later when they got too deep into it, he supposed.

He'd hurt plenty of people in his life; he didn't want her to be one of them. It looked like it was too late for that, though, even if it wasn't his fault entirely.

Somehow, the longer he watched her, the more the desire to rub in her face how wrong she was began to fade and his guilt seemed to deepen. It wasn't fair. He hadn't intentionally done anything wrong.

Bishop marched over to the group, anger chiseled into his features.

"Hey!" the halfling piped. "About time you showed up. We're getting ready to-"

"Not now." Bishop growled at Quin, who frowned but wisely shut his mouth.

Jaelyn sneered at the ranger with all the hate she could muster and turned away, crossing her arms over her chest. Bishop, however, didn't notice this; he was working hard at ignoring her for the moment and fighting off the urge to grab her and shake her until she believed him.

The natives were staring at him. He kept his gaze on the ghost.

"You and I need to have a little talk."

"It will have to wait." Gulaonar replied. "We are discussing-"

"I don't care." Bishop cut him off. "We talk now, or I start stabbing natives. Your choice."

Gulaonar frowned. "You can try, but you'll be dead before you draw your weapon."

"Oh, really? If I'm dead, who will train them, eh? Don't make threats you can't back up."

"I can easily take care of you once you've outlived your usefulness. Don't put so much importance upon yourself."

"Well, that's the thing, isn't it? I _am_ important; you need me, so don't press your luck. I may decide I have better things to do than teach these pathetic barbarians which end of a sword does the killing."

"We don't want or need your help!" Jaelyn burst.

Bishop faced her, looked her straight in the eyes. "Yeah? And how long do you think they'll last against the drow without my help? You willing to risk their lives on it?"

At her seething silence, he grinned. "Yeah, that's what I thought."

He faced Gulaonar once again. "So what'll it be, wraith?"

"What is it you want?" Gulaonar replied, his voice cold and impatient.

"Not here."

"What does it matter? The natives can't understand you."

"I don't care about them."

Gulaonar stared long and hard at the ranger, then his gaze shifted to Jaelyn, who was fuming and barely keeping herself in check. Quin had his hand on her arm, a worried look on his face.

"I see. Very well, ranger. We will talk. Lead the way."

Bishop turned and headed across the village, the ghost hovering along behind him. When the ranger was sure they were completely out of ear shot, he stopped and faced Gulaonar.

"You're going to translate for me."

"What?"

"You heard me."

Gulaonar rose a brow. "Why?"

Bishop gave him an impatient sigh. "We don't have time to go into it. Just do it."

"If you want my help, ranger, you will explain yourself."

Bishop sneered at him and through his teeth, he said, "Fine."

He explained to the ghost about what had happened the night before and what had occurred not long ago outside his hut. Gulaonar listened intently, but didn't believe the ranger's claim of innocence. This type of sleazy behavior was right up his alley.

"And why do you need me as a translator?" the ghostly drow inquired, though he was pretty sure of the answer.

"'Cause I'm gonna get answers out of that native wench. She's the only one who knows what in the hells is going on."

"I could peer into her memories." Gulaonar offered.

"Whatever. I just want answers."

"Do you know where she is?"

"No, but I'll tear this village apart looking for her if I have to."

There was a dark, knowing gleam in the former drow's eyes as he looked upon the ranger. "I have no doubt."

Bishop glared at him, knowing instantly what the ghost was implying. "You don't want to go there."

"I've seen it in your memories, what you did to the place you came from..."

"Then you better keep your trap shut about it." he warned.

Gulaonar stared at him with a scrutinizing look. "I fail to understand your motives in this, ranger, why you go to such lengths to try to prove you're innocent. It seems to me that it shouldn't bother you this much; after all, you are prone to such behavior. And surely proving her wrong isn't worth all the trouble. I could almost say that you genuinely care about what she thinks, perhaps even care about her."

Here the ghost smiled, unpleasantly. "But I know you."

"Yeah? If you claim to know me, then you shouldn't have any trouble telling my motives."

Gulaonar's smile vanished. "In anything you do, you are driven by your own selfish desires. I can see right through you and right into your black little heart. You only want her for one thing and when you've had it, you'll toss her aside like you've done all the others."

Bishop smirked. "Come now, we both know that's just what you're hoping I'll do. Maybe I will, maybe I won't."

"And if you think I'm going to let you hurt her anymore than you already have, you are sadly mistaken."

Bishop laughed. "Oh, you'll let me hurt her long enough for you to swoop in to save her. It'll prove to her that you had been right about me the whole time and she should've listened to you. How 'noble' of you to go through so much trouble for her."

Gulaonar frowned deeply at the sarcasm and accusations but said nothing.

The two stood(well, one floated) there for several moments, glaring at each other. Then, for the first time that day, Gulaonar peered into the ranger's fuzzy memory. He didn't like what he saw there.

The majority of the images were blurred and hazy from the ranger's previous night of intoxication, but one image stood a bit more clear above all the others. It was the image Bishop has described to him of what he had saw. It was Jaelyn standing at his door, dressed in white.

Memories didn't lie. The bastard was telling the truth.

Gulaonar had no idea what to make of this. It wasn't often that Bishop was innocent and it wasn't often that Gulaonar was wrong about someone. He still wasn't buying that the ranger wanted to prove his innocence to prove he hadn't meant to hurt Jaelyn. He was convinced that Bishop just wanted to rub it in her face that she was wrong, to make her feel bad for accusing him when she probably would have felt bad anyway, but the ranger was good at making things worse, especially if it made him feel better.

"Let us find this native woman and get this over with." Gulaonar finally said in a curt tone. "The less time I spend in your presence, the better."

Bishop sneered at him. "Likewise."

They began their search of every hut, Gulaonar offering apologies when they barged in on the innocent. There was a lot of apologizing. And there was a lot of frustration on Bishop's part. Every time they failed to locate the woman, he let out a startling, savage curse and stormed out, making his way to the next hut, not bothering to see if the ghost was following him.

The woman's home was in a far corner of the village, sitting behind a few other huts. They found her outside, hanging laundry out to dry while two children played in the dirt not far away. Their pleasant laughter sang in the air and for a moment, Bishop watched them.

A little boy was building a dirt hut while his sister was playing with a rag doll. The boy paused in his construction, a mischievous glint in his eye and a moment later, he launched a ball of dirt at the girl. She squealed and hit him playfully with her doll, shouting something in the native language; probably an insult.

The ghost moved toward the woman and announced his presence. She turned and regarded Gulaonar for a moment before setting her sapphire gaze on the ranger. Her mouth curved into a seductive smile.

Bishop scowled at her.

Gulaonar spoke again, drawing her attention. The conversation they had quickly changed her attitude. She became elusive and dismissive.

Bishop wished he knew what in the hells was being said.

Then something Gulaonar said seemed to shock and terrify her. Her eyes darted between him and Bishop. She muttered a few fearful words, then she bent to pick up her laundry basket and quickly ushered her children and herself inside her home.

Gulaonar sighed and turned to Bishop.

"Well?" the ranger demanded.

The ghost shook his head. "You're not going to like it."

"I'm already aware of that. Talk!"

"Her memories were clear. And she confirmed the truth herself." Gulaonar began. "She was part of a plan thought up by Akereth to make Jaelyn hate you...by getting you caught in bed with her. She-"

He was cut off by a shouted curse.

Bishop's sword sang out of its sheath. Gulaonar caught the undefiled rage in his eyes and on his face before he stormed off.

"Where are you going?" he asked as he followed the seething man closely. "What're you going to do?"

"What I should've done a long time ago. That son of a bitch has gotten in my way for the last fucking time!"

"Do you really think you can kill him in front of all the other natives and get away with it?"

"I don't care."

"And what of Jaelyn? How do you think she will feel about you if you kill him?"

Bishop didn't say anything for a moment. He was too angry. The rage flowed with the blood in his veins. He couldn't think passed the thought of wanting to send Akereth's head flying across the village. He couldn't even see straight.

"I don't care about that, either."

"You hesitate." Gulaonar replied with true surprise. "If you truly care about her in any way, then let Akereth be. If you take his life, you will lose her for good."

He snorted. "Too late for that."

"There is a chance you can regain her trust again. I saw the truth for myself and the woman confessed. Jaelyn will believe me if I tell her what truly happened."

"And you're not going to do that, so I don't-"

"I will if you leave Akereth alone. You have my word."

"Your word doesn't mean shit to me."

"But it does to Jaelyn. You have a chance to make the right decision here. What will you do?"

Bishop stared at Gulaonar for a moment, then at his sword, still clenched tight in his hand. How he'd love to drive it through Akereth's chest. How he'd love to take his head off with it.

_What will you do?_

The words echoed inside him. Do the right thing for the sake of a woman or do what he knew how to do best for the sake of himself?

After a bit of hesitation, he bitterly sheathed his sword.

Gulaonar smiled. "Perhaps there is hope for you."

"Shut up, wraith." Bishop snapped back. "That niece of yours is ruining me."

Gulaonar shook his head. "She is helping you in more ways than you know."

"I didn't ask her to and I don't want her to."

"Interesting. You are your own man; you make your own choices. If there was a part of you that didn't want change, you wouldn't change. It's that simple. People make the change on their own, not by another person. Someone may push them in the right direction or show them that the path exists, but ultimately it is the person's decision to take it."

"That's the same nonsense she was spouting to me yesterday. And that's exactly what it is: nonsense."

"It's wisdom, ranger. I wonder who she gets that from."

Bishop snorted. "Not you, that's for sure."

Gulaonar graced the remark with a brief laugh. "Let us return to the village center. I intend to keep my word if you keep yours."

"I'll keep it...for now."

**xxxxxxxxxx**

Jaelyn watched her bow as it passed between the seven native men she was to train, and her guts were in knots.

It wasn't that she was nervous about training them. Far from it, in fact; she looked forward to training them. It was just that she was worried about her bow getting mangled in the hands of amatuers.

That bow was an extension of herself; it had been a part of her ever since she was a child, it was the weapon she had been trained with, and it had aided in her survival. It was more than just a weapon to her.

And now it was being passed around and handled like gaudy, exotic merchandise at a village market.

Jaelyn openly cringed when one of the native men twanged the bowstring too hard and it snapped back against his wrist.

Quin, who stood beside her, saw her reaction and patted her in the small of her back "Don't worry, Jae. It probably won't even leave a mark on him."

Jaelyn looked down at Quin. "I wasn't worried about him. I was worried about my bow."

"Well, I doubt your bow will come to too much harm."

"I hope not, because it's the only one I have and I've had it for a long time."

"How long?"

"Since I was very young. I can't remember when exactly, but I know I was only a child when I first held it. It's the first and only bow I've ever had. I've never used any other."

Quin looked at her, surprised. "Wow. You must take really good care of it. I don't know how many rapiers I've gone through."

Jaelyn gave him a small smile.

"Well, I'd teach you how to take care of your weapons if I knew anything about caring for blades."

"I'm sure that's one of the things Bishop is going to teach you. You can teach me after you learn."

Jaelyn looked away, her smile fading.

Her sudden silence made Quin look up at her again.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing." she said without hesitation, expecting the question.

"Oh, come on. This is me you're talking to. I know when something's wrong." Quin replied. "Besides, I saw you glaring at him earlier. What did he do this time?"

Jaelyn bit her lip and tried to ward off the terrible ache building in her heart.

She had done a good job of not thinking about what had happened earlier, using the training of the natives to distract her. Now Quin was unknowingly making her think about it and she hadn't really let herself despair over it. She held the brunt of it in, not wanting Bishop to see how deeply he had hurt her. If he knew how much he affected her, he'd take every chance he could get to use it against her. Sometimes she really wondered what she saw in him.

Jaelyn looked down at Quin, frowning.

"We were up on a cliff last night, talking. Well, arguing, actually."

Quin nodded. "Of course."

"And we kissed-"

"Tell me you didn't like it. Please."

Jaelyn blushed from head to toe. "It was...fantastic. Perfect, and I may not be an expert when it comes to love, but I know there was something in that kiss. It meant something."

"So what's the problem, then? Why are you practically at each other's throat...again?"

She looked away from her friend, her eyes filling with tears.

"I found him with someone else this morning and it was obvious that he had slept with her."

Quin groaned and slapped his forehead. "Why am I not surprised? He sure knows how to screw things up."

Jaelyn scoffed. "Screwing seems to be the only thing he knows how to do. He claims he doesn't remember what happened; he doesn't remember being with that woman."

"That's a terrible excuse. You'd think he could come up with something better."

"That's what I said. So, that's it. I don't want anything to do with him anymore..." she paused, running the back of her hand across her eyes. "It hurts, Quin. Love isn't supposed to hurt."

Quin took her hand and gave it a gentle pat with his other. "It shouldn't hurt, but sometimes it does. Love isn't all rainbows and unicorns. Even the best of relationships have their ups and downs. And sometimes the relationship you think is the best turns out to be the worst. You'll find some-"

"No," she cut him off as she leaned back against a support pole and looked down at him with a serious look. "That's the thing, Quin. There won't be anyone else. Not for me. You know how people feel about my heritage. You've seen it, experienced it with me. He was the only one that didn't care about it."

Quin sighed. "He doesn't care about it, Jae, because he doesn't care about anything."

"Then how do I stop making myself care about him? Because this really sucks!"

She slipped down the support pole she was leaning against until she was sitting on the ground, her knees pulled up to her chest. She buried her face in them and cried. Quin knelt next to her and put a comforting hand on her back.

"Realize he isn't worth it. If there's a chance in the hells that he cared about you, he wouldn't hurt you like this."

"B-But I thought-"

"Maybe you were wrong."

"I don't want to be wrong."

"I know."

There was an awkward silence and at first, Quin assumed the natives had stopped what they were doing to stare at her crying, but then when he looked up, he saw that they were not looking at her.

He followed their gazes and frowned when he saw Bishop and Gulaonar standing there.

The ranger didn't bother to acknowledge Quin's presence; he was staring at Jaelyn with a dent in his brow and a strange expression on his face, a mixture of disdain and, to the halfling's shock, hurt.

"We need to talk." His voice was rough and demanding.

Jaelyn stiffened at the sound of it, but she remained in her position, unwilling to look at him.

Quin stepped in what would've been the ranger's line of vision if he hadn't been so short.

"She doesn't want to talk to you." the halfling snapped at him.

"Stay out of this." the ranger snapped back. "It doesn't concern you and she doesn't need you speaking for her."

Quin opened his mouth to speak, but Jaelyn cut him off.

She was on her feet in a heartbeat, standing behind the halfling, a hand on his shoulder. She stared at Bishop with anger, that red tint of rage in her green eyes. She was so angry, Quin could feel her hand trembling on his shoulder.

"I don't want to speak to you," she said, her voice vicious. "I don't want to look at you. I don't want anything to do with you. _Ever_!"

Her hand tightened painfully on Quin's shoulder, but he was able to stifle a protest.

Bishop gave her a bitter smile. "Fine. Just remember when you learn the truth: you had your chance."

He shot Gulaonar a whithering glare. "Remember our deal, wraith."

And that was that. He stalked off toward his hut, disappearing behind the curtain.

Jaelyn's blazing eyes followed him until he was gone and then she looked over at Gulaonar.

"What was that about?"

The ghost sighed. "Jaelyn, let us go for a walk."

"But-"

"It will do you good." Gulaonar interrupted gently. "And there is something we must discuss."

She sighed. "All right. Quin will you-"

"Don't worry, I'll watch these guys until you get back."

"Thanks."

Gulaonar led Jaelyn out into the woods where they strolled in silence for a while, enjoying it and their beautiful, deceptively serene environment.

"We must speak about him."

At Gulaonar's voice, Jaelyn looked up.

"Who?"

"Bishop."

"I don't want to talk about him. I thought I'd made that clear."

"You will want to hear what I have to say."

"I doubt it, but fine, talk. You're going to do so, anyway."

Gulaonar sighed. "You know how I feel about him. I'm sure just about anyone who's met him has felt the same way, and I know how you feel about him regardless of what he's done."

"He told you what happened?"

"Yes."

Jaelyn wondered why for a moment, but then figured the bastard was probably just trying to get someone on his side.

"I'm sure he gave you the same idiotic excuse he gave me."

Gulaonar stopped and so did Jaelyn. They regarded one another for a moment.

"You are my niece. I have lied to you before, but I have no intention of lying to you anymore. Yes, he told me and he claims to not remember that woman."

"Figures."

"And I believe him."

Jaelyn's eyes went wide in disbelief. "_What_? How can you believe him? He's lying! There's no way he couldn't remember. He slept with that woman because I wouldn't sleep with him. How can you believe his lies? How can you not see past them?"

"Calm down."

"Calm down? Of all the people I thought would be on my side, I thought I'd be you. He got to you somehow."

Gulaonar studied her closely. "I thought you were the one who believed in him, had hope that he could be a better person."

"I did until he betrayed me. Now, I don't care anymore. I don't want anything to do with him."

Gulaonar shook his head. "You are making a mistake. As odd as the situation is, he_ is_ innocent and what's more, I know who is truly to blame for what happened."

"I don't believe this."

"I dispise the man and disapprove of his...'relationship' with you, so I have no reason to take his side unless he was innocent. And I believe he is truly regretful for what has happened. He was so desperate to prove his innocence that he came to me for help."

"And you helped him? Why?"

"Well, at first, I didn't want to, but it's not often that the ranger seeks out help, let alone that of someone he dislikes. I peered into his memories and what I saw confirmed his innocence. I was curious to know what had truly happened, so I agreed to help." Gulaonar explained. "We went searching for the woman he had been with and when we found her, I peered into her memories, too."

"And?"

Gulaonar shook his head. "I can hardly believe it, but she was merely a tool in a plan Akereth came up with to get you to hate Bishop. I still don't know how Akereth tricked him into thinking it was you he was with. The woman eluded me before I could see everything her memories had to offer. Bishop flew into a rage and was on a path to kill Akereth. Fortunately, I was able to convince him to leave him alone."

"How did you do that?"

"I gave him my word that I would tell you the truth, that he's innocent, if he stayed away from him."

"And you believe him? You're a fool. He's probably off trying to kill him as we speak."

"No. I trust his word as strange as it sounds."

"Why?"

"Because despite everything, I sense genuine affection for you in him. He wouldn't have gone through all this trouble just to rub it in your face that you were wrong about him. Although, that is probably a small part of the reason why he did it. He is hurt that you don't believe him."

Jaelyn slumped back against a tree with a sigh. A flood of relief ran through her, but it was accompanied by a strong pang of guilt. She trusted Gulaonar was telling the truth. So, she had been wrong about Bishop. She had accused him, hit him, and refused to listen to and forgive him when he had been innocent. All this time she had went on and on about believing in the good in him and the moment he tried to do the right thing, she refused him. Then there was Akereth, whom she had thought was her friend, and he was behind the whole thing. He was the one that had truly betrayed her.

Her face creased in horror.

"Oh, Gulaonar, what have I done?"

"You were hurt and felt betrayed. You did what any normal person would have done."

"He won't understand that. He'll never forgive me for this. Why did I have to overreact like that?"

"It'll take time but he'll eventually get over it when he's done being hurt."

Jaelyn heaved another sigh. "I can't imagine him being hurt over something like this."

"It's hard to imagine what can hurt people like him."

"What do we do about Akereth? He can't get away with this."

"We do nothing until we can figure out what he did to trick Bishop." Gulaonar replied. "Since the ranger was apparently having strong hallucinations, I'm assuming he was drugged somehow. I would not be surprised considering Akereth's father is the prophet of the village as well as the herbalist. I will speak with him when we return to the village. You must speak with Bishop."

"No." she said. "I can't."

"Why not?"

"I...I'm scared. I don't know what I'll do if he doesn't forgive me."

"As I told you, give it time. Now, let us return."

Jaelyn pushed herself away from the tree with a frown and followed Gulaonar.

When they got back to the village, Gulaonar pointed to Bishop's hut and Jaelyn rolled her eyes and nodded as she made her way over to it, her legs getting heavier the closer she got.

She stood at the curtain for what felt like hours, practicing in her mind what she would say to him. This was not going to be easy. She hated when he was right and he was as stubborn as a mule, so she already knew he was going to make it tough on her to gain his forgiveness if he was even capable of giving it at all. He had warned her, after all, that she'd had her chance.

She closed her eyes and took a breath.

"Can we talk?"

There was a long silence and then his voice came, sounding angry, "I already told you, you had your chance for that."

"I know. I was being stubborn." she admitted. "Please? I want to talk to you."

"Shove off."

"I was wrong." she went on. "I should have believed you when you were explaining what had happened and I didn't. I'm sorry, Bishop. I'm so sorry I hurt you."

"Hurt me?" he laughed. "Don't think for a second, girl, that anything you do affects me. I don't give a damn about you!"

"Don't play that game. We both know that's not true."

"I said shove off."

"If you weren't hurt and if you didn't care, you wouldn't be acting like this."

There was no reply this time.

"Look, how did you expect me to react?" Jaelyn said, beginning to get frustrated. "What happened hurt me. It hurt a lot. How would you feel if you found someone you care about with someone else?"

Still no answer.

"So, that's it then? You're not going to talk to me? You're not even going to give me another chance?"

Silence.

She wasn't surprised. After all, why should he give her another chance when she hadn't given him one?

"Fine, Bishop. Have it your way. But just know, you're letting Akereth win."

Jaelyn turned away, on the verge of tears, and headed back toward Quin and the seven natives.

Inside the hut, Bishop sat on the edge of his bed, staring down at his dagger with an ominous expression on his face.

He had come to a decision. He would find a way to get Akereth alone and when he did, he was going to leave the bastard's entrails hanging from the trees.

He'd gotten what he'd wanted out of Gulaonar, so there was no longer a need to keep his promise. The wraith would be angry, but who cared? Besides, he was a fool to expect him to keep a promise. Bishop had never been a man of his word.


	33. Chapter 33: Promise

**xxxxxx**

* * *

**Chapter Thirty-Three:**

**Promise**

**xxxxxx**

**Three** grueling days had passed with the trio hardly seeing or speaking to each other, their attentions focused on the native's training.

Jaelyn had her work cut out for her.

She spent most of her mornings training her seven pupils, then spent a good deal of the afternoons and evenings with a couple of woodsmiths who were on break from working on the boat.

The natives needed bows and needed them soon for their training to be effective. However, explaining to the woodsmiths how to construct a bow was not easy. The first problem had been finding flexible enough wood. It took a few trips through the northern part of the forest, but they eventually came across a copse of inanimate yews. It took several more trips getting enough unflawed pieces of wood back to the village.

The second problem was actually constructing the bows. The natives hadn't even seen one before Jaelyn's, so they had no clue how to go about doing it and Jaelyn only knew a little about how a bow was made. She considered asking Bishop since he'd been around society more than she had and would have to come across or perhaps requested the services of a bowyer sooner or later, but she bemoaned the very idea. They weren't on speaking terms and he was going out of his way to ignore her. She wasn't looking at many choices, however, and the wood was beginning to dwindle from the numerous mistakes the woodsmiths were making.

She currently stood outside of one of the woodsmith's huts, running a critical eye over the newly carved bow which had yet to be strung.

This was one of the better ones. It had a smooth, impressive arc and looked promising.

She looked up at the woodsmith, who was an incredibly tall, burly man with a thick black beard and a large scar running down his left cheek. He was staring at her expectantly.

"Well, it's the best one made yet." she spoke to him in drow. "I guess we'll know for sure once it's stringed and tested."

"What is used to string it?" the man inquired.

"Well, it must be something that isn't stretchy. Perhaps some kind of tough vine or maybe some rawhide."

The man nodded. "Choke Vine is strong, but dangerous to handle."

Jaelyn had never heard of Choke Vine but she had a good idea of what it was by the image it conjured up of Bishop hanging from it.

"Yes, we've come across that once." she said. "If it's sturdy enough to hang a full-grown man, I think it should work well for bowstring."

"I will send my apprentice out to collect some tomorrow morning."

Jaelyn nodded. "Maybe have someone accompany him and let me know when they return. See you tomorrow."

The woodsmith inclined his head and bid her farewell.

Jaelyn headed across the village to her hut.

Once inside, she put her bow on the table and unbuckled her quiver, sitting it along side her bow. She then flopped onto her bed where Feral was curled up in a ball, sleeping.

The cat-bear was immediately startled from his slumber and let out a habitual growl at the disturbance.

"Sorry, Feral." Jaelyn mumbled into her pillow. "But I'm beat."

_Long day?_

Jaelyn rolled over on her back and stared up at the cieling.

"You could say that. Training the natives isn't easy, especially when you don't have the equipment to do it. Looks like the archery training is going to have to be put on hold until we can get some bows made for them."

_That'll give you time to sword train._

She sighed. "Only if my 'trainer' is up for it. We're not exactly on speaking terms. Well, _he's_ not."

Feral moved so he could curl up next to her and rub his head against her arm. Jaelyn reached out and stroked his fur as she mulled over her latest problem.

_Him, angry with you? That's new._

"Well, maybe I deserve his anger and the silent treatment. I accused him of something he was innocent of and I wouldn't give him a chance to explain himself; I was too hurt and stubborn to listen."

_What happened?_

Jaelyn heaved a sigh and explained to her animal companion what had occured days ago, about how Akereth was behind all of it.

_Akereth? But he's the good one! I wouldn't have expected such maliciousness from him._

Jaelyn frowned deeply, feeling a jolt of anger run through her. "I wouldn't have thought he was capable of such behavior, either; I can't believe what he's done. I made it clear how I felt about him and he still went and did this, knowing damn well that we could never be. For what?"

_It's obvious. If he can't have you, no one else can._

Jaelyn shook her head. "I have a bad feeling about this, Feral. Gulaonar said Bishop was absolutely livid when he found out Akereth was behind everything."

She looked at the cat-bear with a severe expression.

"He's going to kill him. I don't know what to do. On the one hand, Akereth has it coming; it's a horrible thing to say, but he made his bed, so he can lie in it. On the other hand, if Bishop kills him, the natives will want justice for Akereth's death. I have no idea what the penalty for murder is. I'm assuming some form of execution."

_So, it's a win-win outcome, if you ask me._

Jaelyn gave the cat-bear a glare. Feral was grinning.

"Be serious." she said. "I don't want anything to happen to my companion. He's a wretched human being most of the time, but I love him, anyway."

_You're hopeless._

Jaelyn sat up in the bed and yanked on Feral's tail, eliciting a sound of protest from the animal. In retaliation, Feral leaped on her and began licking her all over her face with his sandpaper-rough tongue.

"Ah! Feral!" she laughed, trying to wrestle her companion off of her. "I don't need a bath!"

Jaelyn twisted to get away and fell off the bed. Feral jumped off of her just in time to avoid joining her on the floor.

She continued laughing until she looked up to see a figure standing in the threshold of her hut. She kept her smile in place, hoping it would melt the cold look her visitor greeted her with.

Feral lowered himself into a prepared pounce, his ears flat against his head and his feline eyes glaring hatefully. As usual his fur was standing on end and Jaelyn could hear the low rumble in the cat-bear's throat, threatening to become a full-on growl.

Jaelyn got to her feet and put her hand on Feral's neck. "Knock it off."

Feral's yellow eyes darted from Bishop to her and he finally allowed himself to calm down. He curled up on the bed, but kept an ever watchful eye on the ranger.

Jaelyn looked at Bishop, her smile fading. She opened her mouth to ask what he wanted, but he beat her to the initiative.

"Your next lesson starts now, drow. So, let's go before I change my mind."

Jaelyn inwardly cringed at the icy loathing in his voice.

She frowned. "Look, if you don't want to train me anymore, I'll understand. I don't want you to do something you don't want to do."

He scoffed with livid disdain. "It's either this or I go kill that son of a bitch."

With that, he turned and left.

Jaelyn sighed and tried to ignore the large lump in her throat and how her muscles had tensed up in reaction to his anger toward her.

_He's got it in for you now_, came Feral's voice, intruding on her thoughts.

She looked over her shoulder at the cat-bear and rolled her eyes. "No kidding. I'll be back later...if he doesn't kill me."

**xxxxxxxxxx**

Without so much as a word or a glance in her direction, Bishop tossed Jaelyn her sword and then moved back a few yards, turning to face her once again.

Jaelyn stood there a moment, staring down at the ground where her sword lay and then she sighed softly, picked up the weapon, and took her place.

She gave him a playful grin, hoping that it would somehow lighten his mood.

"You're not going to kill me, are you?

There was no expression on Bishop's face, no emotion in his eyes. All she saw was that stony coldness. It hurt to have him looking at her like that, as if they weren't friends anymore, as if they weren't _anything_ anymore.

"I haven't decided yet."

Her brows furrowed and she swallowed the lump in her throat. She couldn't tell if he was joking or not.

"Look, I said I was sorry. What more do you want?"

"Nothing. I don't want anything from you." His voice was hollow and frigid.

Jaelyn scoffed and rolled her eyes in annoyance. "You're really overreacting, you know that?"

Bishop laughed. It was a very unpleasant sound.

"Not really. I could overreact if you'd like, smack you around like you did to me."

"That was different!"

"Whatever you say." he replied brusquely, losing patience with the conversation. "Are you here to train or are you here to argue over what has ceased to matter?"

Jaelyn gave him a wounded look. Tears burned her eyes, but she bit her lip to force them back and hold them down. She would not let him make her cry. Not this time and certainly not in front of him.

"So, that's it then? You're going to let this come between us?"

Bishop grinned nastily. "Us? There is no us. There wasn't to begin with. What, you thought I was after your heart that night? Come now, surely you're not that stupid and naïve."

Jaelyn knew that wasn't true, but his words got to her nevertheless; she let them get past her common sense to pierce her heart. It wasn't the insult that hurt.

"You really are a bastard."

"And you're nothing but a desperate little bitch. You throw yourself at me every chance you get and you throw yourself at that pathetic native. Hells, I'm surprised you haven't gone for the half-man yet."

Jaelyn shook with anger, curling her fingers around the hilt of her sword until it hurt. And the anger inside her eclipsed the pain.

Her jaw was clenched tight and every muscle in her body was rigid.

She seethed like a volcano ready to erupt at any moment. Her green and now red-tinted eyes stared hatefully into his amused golden ones.

"How dare you."

"How dare I what? Tell the truth?"

Jaelyn bolted at him with surprising speed and renewed purpose. She wanted to hurt him, but she remembered during one of their other lessons how he had coaxed her into attacking with mere words. She was making that same mistake again.

She faltered and then backed up, putting space between them. Bishop gave her an unpleasant smirk, obviously noting how he had almost gotten her to foul up again.

She needed to think this through.

Bishop was and would always be a physically stronger opponent than her. However, he had more or less explained in their last lesson that size didn't matter. Speed and deception were greater advantages. The problem was he had those things in spades, too. She would simply have to be quicker and more deceptive than him.

Jaelyn needed to do something unexpected, but first she had to bait him, set him up with something he would expect her to do. Perhaps charging him had been the right call. Let him think his goading was working. Even if she had backed out of the charge at first, it could still work.

Placing a sneer back on her face, Jaelyn let out an enraged cry and charged at him again.

Bishop was shaking his head, already raising his sword for a parry; a good sign. The bait was working.

When Jaelyn got within striking distance, she made a quick spin around him, ending her revolution with a high arc of her sword.

He barely had time to turn and parry her attack. He had to use both hands on the parry to keep from losing his sword and this left his whole left side open for an attack.

Jaelyn saw this and went in for the kill.

She broke the contact between their weapons and swiped her sword at his left side.

Bishop was forced to dodge back to avoid getting hit.

With a gap between them now, they began circling each other, staring into the others eyes for who would strike next.

His anger momentarily forgotten, Bishop grinned at her.

"Nice move."

Although it was a genuine compliment, Jaelyn didn't see it that way. She assumed he was trying to distract her and she wasn't going to let that happen.

This time when Jaelyn came in at him, she made her unexpected move, an attack she had seen him do once, but had yet to teach her. It was risky, but that was all the better. It was more he wouldn't expect of her.

She rushed forward, leaped to his utter surprise and brought a chop attack down on him.

Surprised though he was, Bishop knew that particular leap. Most people didn't do it. It was a move often used by someone with less upper body strength. The momentum of the leap gave the chop attack more force on the way down. The downside was it threw you off your stance if you didn't land it right. The fact that she knew how to perform a chop attack without it being taught _and_ add the leap to give her attack more force wasn't just surprising. It was mind-boggling.

He threw his blade up into a full horizontal parry, his left palm moving to the flat of the blade and just near the tip to keep the entire weapon balanced when her attack connected. He twisted a bit to make sure she hit the center of the blade lest he lose a few fingers.

When the blades came together with a loud clang, he was further surprised by how she landed the attack in perfect stance. If he wanted to thrust her back, she could easily absorb the momentum and keep her balance.

Jaelyn pressed her weapon down on his and he shoved back hard, forcing her away. He danced back a few steps to put more distance between them.

"Now, where'd you learn to do that?"

"From watching you."

"Can't keep your eyes off me, eh?"

Jaelyn made a face. "You're so full of yourself."

"I'd rather you were full of me."

"Ugh, you pig!" she said and kicked dirt at him.

He laughed gruffly, turning his head and backing away a bit to avoid getting the dirt in his eyes. "I didn't think you were in to farm animals."

"Oh, that's it! Now, you're going to get it!"

"Then give it to me, little drow."

He was grinning.

Something had certainly changed his mood. He was more relaxed now, no longer angry. The stony look in his eyes was gone, replaced by a glimmer of amusement and playfulness.

Jaelyn had no idea what had caused the sudden change, but she wasn't about to question it. She was just glad his anger toward her was gone now.

Smiling, she sliced her blade diagonally at him.

They played around a bit to warm up for close to an hour before beginning her real lesson.

She learned how to perform two other parries, a downward parry for attacks from the waist and below and a drag parry that would allow her to decimate a chop attack by blocking the blade and then slicing into her opponent's wrist.

Jaelyn had learned the drag parry quick enough, but she had trouble with the downward parry. It required a lot more upper body strength when performing a riposte from it since one had to lift their sword from a downward angle and up into an attack.

"You need to train your upper body. You're too weak." Bishop commented after deciding to call it a day.

They were both breathing heavily and sweating from the exersion.

Jaelyn nodded, wiping her arm across her brow.

After how many times she failed at performing a riposte out of the downward parry, she could hardly disagree with him.

"Well, what can I do to improve my strength?"

"There's a few things..."

Bishop scanned the area, looking for something.

Once his gaze fell on the object he sought, he made his way over to it, his stride as silent as ever. He bent, retrieved the object from the ground and returned to her.

Jaelyn saw that he held a large stone, probably twice the size of his hands.

He handed it to her.

When Jaelyn took the heavy rock, she had to use both hands. She brang it toward her chest to better hold onto it, wrapping her arms around it as if she cradled a child, and then she gave him a look of inquiry.

"What am I supposed to do with this?"

"Lift it."

Jaelyn rose a brow. "Okay..."

"Put your hands under it and when you lift it, curl it in toward you."

"What's this going to accomplish? Or are you just trying to make a fool out of me?"

He frowned. "Do it or don't do it. I could care less. Just don't come asking me for help if you aren't going to take my advice."

Jaelyn sighed. "All right, all right. Sorry. No need getting your panties in a wad."

He glared poison-tipped daggers at her and she grinned.

"So, this is going to help my upper body strength, is it?

"Yeah. It's what I was forced to do to get stronger, except the rocks were a lot bigger and I had to carry and drag them up a steep hill for I don't know how many hours."

Jaelyn stared at him in curiosity. "That had to be...unpleasant."

He shrugged. "It was effective. If you dropped a rock, you were forced to carry an even bigger one. That was the only chance they gave you. If you dropped that rock, they'd kill you."

"They?"

He turned away from her, retrieved his sword from where he stuck it in the ground and sheathed it. When he turned back to her, there was a grave look on his face.

"Doesn't matter. They're all gone now."

Something flashed across his face, a degree of anger.

She could make a guess as to who 'they' were; he had mentioned being a soldier once, but she wasn't going to venture into it. This seemed to be grounds he didn't like to walk on and she would not force him to walk on them.

"Did you ever drop a rock?"

He snorted a tiny laugh. "What do you think?"

Jaelyn smirked. "I'm guessing no."

"Good guess." He waved a dismissive hand. "Enough talk. Get lifting. I'll count."

"How many times do I have to do this?"

"Until I tell you to stop."

"Oh, great..."

Bishop grinned devilishly. "I wasn't planning on making it that hard on you, but that comment just changed my mind."

"Oh, come on!"

He crossed his arms over his chest and gave her an unyielding look. "Get to it, drow."

Jaelyn sighed and began the exercise.

The first ten reps were easy enough, but once she got around twenty, she noted that it was getting harder to lift the rock. After thirty reps, her arms were starting to hurt. At fifty, the muscles in her arms were burning and she was beginning to wonder if he was going to make her do this forever.

"My arms are hurting..."

"Good." he replied. "They're supposed to."

He continued counting as she continued lifting.

When he got to seventy, he called her off.

Jaelyn dropped the rock and began rubbing her wrists and forearms with a grimace and Bishop watched her with amusement.

"That burn you're feeling, that's your muscles working. Keep doing that everyday and your strength will increase. Maybe I'll show you another exercise to do later."

"Is it always going to hurt like this?"

"Come now, drow, you've felt worse pain than this. Those two bolts those drow crossbowmen put in your back couldn't have been the best feeling in the world. But to answer your question, no, it won't always hurt. Your muscles will get used to the exertion."

She nodded. "Well, if we're done here now, I think I'll go have a bath."

"We're done. Don't want to overdo it, now do we?"

Jaelyn didn't miss the slight mocking lilt in his voice and when she looked up at him, he was giving her a smirk.

"I could go a bit more if you have the stamina for it."

He stepped toward her and that smirk on his face turned into a seductive smile.

Whatever anger he had felt toward her before was no longer present. He didn't understand it. He wanted to be angry with her still; the sting of her disbelief in him was still there, but he couldn't be angry. It just wasn't there anymore. Maybe it was because she seemed genuinely upset about it, or maybe it was because he kept thinking about being with her up on that cliff, how good it had felt. He wanted that again. He wanted it to last.

"Well, good, 'cause, see, I was thinking of another way of exhausting our stamina that's got nothing to do with lifting rocks."

"You have a one-track mind." Jaelyn remarked, smiling a bit.

He shrugged. "What can I say, drow? I'm a man with needs. And you'd be lying if you said you didn't have them, too."

She flushed. She wasn't going to deny that. He often created this fire in her, a fire she knew only he could tame. Often, she wondered what it would be like to be with him intimately; she wondered of the pleasures they would both give and receive, and she began to desire that intimacy a little more every time she had those thoughts.

Her blush deepened and she lowered her head to hide it. She shouldn't have even bothered; he noticed it before she even moved her head to conceal it from him.

Bishop closed the little bit of space between them in one fluid step. He reached out, lifted her face so she could meet his intense stare.

"I know you want what I want, drow. And there's no shame in that."

Jaelyn's heart was pounding in her chest and she vaguely wondered if he was saying that to ease her mind or trick her into getting into his bed. His motives were almost always self-serving, but sometimes, on very rare occasions, he would do something different, as he had done with Quin's ruby. Jaelyn didn't know if this was one of those times and she began wondering if she even cared or not. Her feelings for him were strong and more than likely, they were foolish, but one could never help the way they felt. You either fought it or rode with it and let it take you to whatever end.

She held his gaze and slipped her hand into his. She was pleasantly surprised when he lifted her hand to his mouth and placed a soft kiss upon it, smiling a bit. She smiled back.

"When this is over, when we get back to the mainland," she said. "I will take you up on your offer."

He grinned now, moving back from her hand yet still holding it in his. "That a promise?"

Jaelyn nodded. "That is a promise."

"Good. How about a little something to tide me over until then?"

She grinned. "What did you have in mind?"

Without a word, Bishop pulled her up against him. Craning his head, his mouth sank down onto hers.

**xxxxxxxxxx**

Bishop returned to his hut sometime later, the drow still on his mind.

Once inside, he unbuckled his swordbelt from his waist, unsheathed the blade to inspect it and decided it was in need of some attention. He replaced it again and leaned it against the wall near his bed. He unsheathed his dagger next and slipped it under his pillow.

His pack sat on the rickety table just beside his bed and he stepped over to retrieve the bit of whetstone he kept in it for the sole purpose of sharpening his weapons. He was surprised when he opened it.

Something was glowing inside.

There was a soft, blue light coming from the bottom of the pack, and as he recalled, he didn't own anything magic or with the capability of lighting up.

Bishop reached in tentatively, moved some things aside and found the spherical item he had wrapped in one of his spare shirts.

He drew the cloth away from it and lifted the glowing crystal orb out, staring at it in confusion. He knew before he even took it out that it was a bad idea to mess with the thing, but curiosity had gotten the better of him.

"What in the Hells...?"

They had gotten the thing from the cell where they had met that pregnant drow and he had completely forgotten about it until now.

Why was it glowing? More importantly, what in the hells was it and what was it capable of?

Magic had its uses, but it was never to be trusted, in his opinion. Magic only brought trouble, and it wasn't the type of trouble you could just shrug off. It was the kind you couldn't afford to have. They were going to have enough problems with Jaelyn's ancestral sword.

Of course, if they could find out what kind of magic the thing possessed, they might be able to harness it against the drow and get off the island sooner. Unfortunately, no one in their little band was familiar with magic, and the natives sure as the hells wouldn't know anything.

Well, he wasn't going to worry about it now.

Bishop moved to cover the orb back up with his shirt when it gave a sudden flash of intense blue light, as if in protest to his intention.

He thrust the sphere out at arm's length, almost dropping it and turned his head away, shutting his eyes against the blinding brightness. A jolt of energy leaped out of the sphere and streamed into him, searing its way through every limb. He grit his teeth against the white hot pain; it felt as if every inch of his skin was on fire. The pain left him disoriented and dizzy. The drow poison he had endured was ecstacy in comparison to this.

He tried to hold back the cry of pain welling up in his throat, but it was too much.

It came out through his teeth sounding more like a growl than a cry and he sank to his knees, the agony having robbed strength from his limbs.

He tried to let go of the orb, but found his body refused to comply with his demands. It was as if his hands were fused to the crystal. The smooth surface burned under his palms and that electric current continued to course its way into him.

After what seemed like hours of burning pain, the current ceased.

Relief washed over him, but his pain ravaged body trembled still with the aftermath and his breathing came out labored. The relief from the pain was not meant to last long, however.

Moments later, another current of energy shot out of the crystal and made a straight path into his head. It was like a million electrified needles penetrating his brain. Bishop was positive his brain was going to explode, then it all stopped.

He fell over and lay there on the floor of his hut for several moments, staring at the ceiling, trying to catch his breath and keep from shaking.

Still, his body refused to let go of the orb and he made a promise to himself that he was never going to touch anything that had the ability to glow again. What a fool he had been to mess with the thing. What a fool they had all been for wanting to take it with them.

A sharp, biting voice full of hatred sliced into his thoughts.

_Ah, a tool presents itself. You will serve me-Dresmor-or you will die here and now._

Bishop clenched his teeth and attempted to defy this voice, but before he could even open his mouth, another jolt of searing energy made a painful path into his body. He writhed under the agony and his rage attempted to block out the pain to no avail.

_Don't try to fight. You will lose. You are too weak to withstand much more of this. Commit yourself to me now, fool, and you will be spared the agony._

"Fuck y-"

His curse was cut off by his own cry of pain as a much more potent stream of energy penetrated him. This time, he could feel the pain down to his very bones. His vision blurred and dimmed as he began to lose consciousness.

_We shall do this another way, then. You will serve me, one way or another._

That voice was the last thing Bishop heard before the darkness stole him away.


	34. Chapter 34: The Spider

**xxxxxx**

* * *

**Chapter Thirty-Four:**

**The Spider**

**xxxxxx**

**He** was up and about just as dawn was painting the heavens in gray and purple hues. His rising with the sun had been pounded into him by years of forceful awakenings. It was a rare occassion when he slept past dawn. If he did, it wouldn't be long before he would awaken with a feeling of agitation, a feeling of expecting something that would never come. Whether he expected the sting of the ice cold water that was dumped on him in winter or the burn of the near-boiling water in summer, that part of his life was now over, but he didn't know any better. It was a habit he couldn't break.

It may have started as any ordinary day for him, but as he dressed, strapped on his weapons and placed the crystal orb in his pack, he knew this day was going to be anything but ordinary, and knowing what he must do, he almost wished he hadn't even woken up.

Bishop pulled the strap of his pack over his head to hang on his right shoulder so the brunt of the pack sat against his left hip. He then made his way out of his hut, checking first to make sure no one he knew was in sight. The last thing he wanted was to have to come up with a lie about why he was going out so early in full gear. And if he got caught by Jaelyn, he knew she would want to tag along.

But he had nothing to worry about. The village was still asleep; the way was clear.

Not even the ghost was around, not that it mattered in any case. Ordinarily, the ghost's presence would be a cause for concern. Given the former drow's ability to see people's memories, all he'd have to do is peer into the ranger's mind to know what had happened last night and what he was planning to do today, but the voice in the crystal orb explained that as long as the crystal was in his possession, the ghost would be unable to see into his mind. And that was a load off his mind, for he knew Gulaonar would stop at nothing to hinder him if he knew what he was up to.

Bishop slipped silently through the village and disappeared into the northern forest.

He followed the path that led him deeper into the dark and silent woods. He stayed on it for a mile or so and then broke off into the thick foliage, weaving his way through the plant life.

His task was actually quite simple. The voice in the orb, which had claimed to be Dresmor, told him to bring the orb to one of his associates at a certain meeting place. The place was to be the old stone building where Quin had been held prisoner.

Yet despite the simplicity of his task, the weight of what he had to do pressed down on him more and more with each step he made toward the meeting place.

The crystal orb was powerful, and though no one on his side knew how it worked or what it was capable of, it was obvious that the drow did. And now he was handing that power over to the enemy in exchange for his life.

Used as a torture device, the orb was unmatched in power. He had never endured such agony before and he certainly wasn't looking forward to dying by the thing.

He had tried getting out of having to hand it over. He tried bashing the thing into a million pieces, but before he could even lift the large rock he intended to destroy it with, the orb had emitted another one of those beams of energy and it shocked him right down to his bones.

He considered (for about a second) telling the others what had happened, but he was never one to ask for help; he hadn't survived this long by seeking help from others, so why start now?

Without the burden of the natives, Bishop found a quick, even pace and he knew he would reach the meeting place around noon, if not sooner. The problem was he would still be missing most of the day, so before he returned to the village, he needed to come up with some kind of lie to explain his absence. Perhaps just saying he went out to do some scouting would suffice. He knew Jaelyn, the half-man, and the ghost wouldn't buy it, but he now had ways of convincing at least her. Some sweet words and a kiss would get her off his back, and if the half-man didn't follow along with her, he knew she had her own ways of getting him to back off, too. That was the thing about Jaelyn. Those with the ability to look past her heritage tended to trust and listen to her.

The ghost could be a potential problem. Without the crystal orb in his possession, the irritating specter could probe his memories again. But then Jaelyn could use her influence over the former drow and keep him away if he asked her to. It was beginning to look like his closeness with her was paying off in more ways than one.

A sudden glimpse of her came to his mind, an image of her standing on the deck of the Seawolf, dressed in all white, the wind playing in her hair. She had smiled at him. She was beautiful.

He stopped, shut his eyes for a moment, and shook his head. Now was not the time to be getting distracted.

He was already angry about what he was being forced to do, but another image of her made him even angrier; the image of her face when she found out what he had done.

_Focus._

And he did. He forced himself to shut her out of his mind completely. He had to shut her out or he was going to turn back and forget the whole thing.

In fact, he shut all thought out. He wasn't taking the risk. The desire to turn back was almost irresistable. And he knew the moment he did turn back, that orb was going to zap him dead. So, he set his sights ahead, thought of nothing and kept walking.

Bishop reached the meeting place at exactly the time he had expected to: noon, and he immediately noticed the male drow standing among the shadows in the threshold of the stone building.

He felt extremely exposed. He stood in a wide glade, so there was no cover if the drow had any ranged weapons. And the drow was smart enough to keep to the shadows and within the threshold, so if Bishop wanted to attack him with his bow, he'd have an almost impossible shot; all the drow would have to do to avoid getting hit was back up.

Something didn't feel right. Bishop knew from experience that these kinds of deals usually involved more than one person present on the receiving end. He suddenly felt like he was going to be ambushed.

He made a quick look around, scanning the grounds and then the trees. He didn't see anything.

"We are alone, human." the drow announced as he finally stepped from the shadows.

He moved with cat-like grace, and with the two longswords hanging at his slender hips, Bishop knew he was dealing with a weapon master. Not that it mattered; fighting wasn't wise, and he certaintly didn't need a jolt from that sphere in his pack to remind him of that.

Bishop studied the drow, carefully.

The drow stared back and got straight down to business."Where is it?"

Bishop sneered at the demanding tone the drow's voice took and then he roughly began uncinching his pack without a word. He pulled out the crystal orb, holding it in the palm of his right hand.

The drow's blood-red eyes seemed to light up at the sight of it. He smirked.

"Good, you're not as foolish as we thought. Now, hand it over."

Bishop hesitated, staring at the object with a frown then he shoved it at the drow.

"Take the godsforsaken thing."

The drow took it in both hands. "You have made the right decision."

The ranger gave him an indignant snort. "As if I had a choice. Our business is done here."

He turned to leave, but the drow spoke, making him halt.

"Actually, our business is far from over."

Bishop got halfway turned around when there was a bright flash of light and a sudden jolt that threw him back.

The familiar burn of the sphere's energy seared through him, the pain sinking into his bones. For a moment, all he could do was writhe on the ground and curse like a Luskan pirate. When it subsided enough for him to move again, he reached for his sword.

A boot slammed down onto his hand, making him grit his teeth and emit an enraged growl through them.

Hovering over him, the drow chortled.

"Ah, ah. Don't bother with that."

He moved his boot so he could pin Bishop's sword arm to the ground, then he bent and unsheathed the ranger's weapon, tossing it well out of reach.

"Now, then," the drow continued. "Dresmor has decided that you can be made useful-"

"Has he?" Bishop cut him off.

The drow smiled at the tone in the ranger's voice, the malice and hatred that darkened it. "Indeed. Your next task won't be so simple, however. And failure will come with dire consequences."

Bishop didn't reply to this, but he watched closely as the drow reached into the small pouch on his belt and withdrew a spider no bigger than his palm. On closer inspection, he saw that it wasn't a live spider. It was made of dark metal, the eight appendages ending in sharp points. The belly of the spider was clear, probably made of glass, and there was some kind of dark red liquid inside of it.

He didn't like the smell of this one. The whole situation he currently found himself in reeked tremendously.

"What in the Nine Hells is that thing?"

The drow grinned. "This is to ensure your loyalty to Dresmor and to ensure the success of your mission."

Bishop glared at him. "Whatever you plan to do to me with that thing, it ensures nothing."

"That is where you're wrong."

Before the ranger could speak, the drow ripped open his leather armor.

"What the f-"

His curse ended in a groan of pain as the drow slammed the metal spider down onto his chest, over his heart. The eight appendages sank deep into his flesh. Blood seeped around the sharp metal now penetrating him and trailed down his chest.

Bishop sneered at the drow, fire in his eyes, and his hands clenched into tight fists, but the drow didn't notice. He was still staring at the spider.

Bishop took the chance and swung his left arm out at the drow.

The movement made the sharp appendages inside him shift, sending waves of pain through his chest and arm. His assault came to a halt before it found its mark and he lay back, hissing through his teeth.

The drow grinned as he reached down and pressed a tiny button on the back of the spider and this time Bishop yelled as all eight legs hooked inside him.

He desperately fought off the pain and moved for his sword. The drow shoved him back and planted the razor-sharp, poisoned edge of his dagger against Bishop's throat.

The two stared hatefully at one another.

"You better pray I never get my hands on you." Bishop said, his tone low and dangerous. "You'll be begging for death long before I'm done with you."

The drow grinned nastily, but didn't reply to the threat. "Within the spider's belly is a fatal poison. There are two ways it can kill you. The first is on an internal timer which only I know how to stop. You have four days to complete your mission. When the fourth day is up, the poison will release from the belly into you via the eight legs. It is extremely painful, but it offers a quick death. The second way is if the spider is tampered with. If you try to remove it, it will release the poison. The glass vial that holds the poison is nearly indestructible, but if you find some way to penetrate it, the poison will seep into your skin and into anyone else that touches it. You will die much more slowly as the poison takes time to reach your heart."

The drow drew back from Bishop and stood.

"Your task is to bring that female drow to us, your companion."

Bishop stared at him for a moment in silence. His mind was trying to break through the sudden torrent of emotions to find solid ground again.

This wasn't happening. This couldn't be happening.

"Why?" he heard himself ask, even though he thought it didn't sound like him at all. His voice was too small. "Why her?"

"Dresmor has use for her. That's all you need to know." He sheathed his dagger. "Remember, four days until the poison injects itself into your heart. I'd hurry if I were you; it will take you a few days to reach our stronghold. It's northeast of here. You won't have trouble finding it."

"And if I bring her, you'll remove this thing from me?"

The drow smirked. "Of course."

Bishop wasn't convinced in the slightest. "And I'm supposed to just take your word for it? The word of a drow?"

"My word is all you have."

"Yeah? Swear it on your goddess, drow."

Bishop had no idea how male drow perceived Lolth, considering she was the reason drow society was female-dominated, but it seemed the ones he'd come across on the island believed in her well enough. If the drow swore it on Lolth that he would remove the damn thing in his chest, he might actually believe it. He needed some kind of assurance.

The drow inclined his head. "In Lolth's name and on Her immortal soul will I keep my word...if you keep yours. There, was that the assurance you sought, human?"

Bishop didn't care for the mockery and his feral, enraged expression didn't hide that fact.

He sat up, growled at him, and looked ready to pounce any moment.

The drow merely laughed, turned on his heel, and disappeared into the forest, leaving Bishop to himself.

He laid back onto the ground, his hand coming over the spider connected to his chest. He thought about giving it an experimental tug to test its strength, thinking he might be able to rip it out quick enough before the poison injected itself into him. Then he thought better of it. He had no idea how sensitive the thing was to tampering. One tug might be all that was needed to kill him.

He lay there for a while, staring blankly up at the canopy of limbs and foliage. He knew he was wasting time, but his mind was a fog of anger and despair. It was so thick in him that he could hardly see through it.

_How in the hells had it come to this? Why did it have to come to this?_

He shook his head.

It didn't matter now. There was no way around it. No matter how much he didn't want to do it, he had to.

He really shouldn't have been surprised by any of it. After all, this was what it all came down to. No matter how much he tried to escape it, he always ended up being forced into something, forced to serve someone else, forced to kill...forced to hurt people he cared about.

It had been a mistake, getting close to Jaelyn. He knew it at the time and he should've known better, never should've let it happen when he knew it would eventually come to this. Now, it would only hurt her more. And it would hurt him as well.

It already did.

**xxxxxxxxxx**

Jaelyn sat on the floor of one of the woodsmith's huts, her legs crossed as she showed the small crowd of native pupils how to string a bow.

The vine the woodsmith's apprentice had gathered worked well as bowstring. Jaelyn had showed them how to wax the string to keep it tough and then she tested the string after the wax on it had dried. She had been amazed by how much distance she could get out of it. It was a crude construction to be sure, but it worked almost as well as her own professionally made bow.

After she had finished the demonstration, she unstrung the bow and then passed it off to the closest native.

"Now you try." she said to him in the language of the drow, and then glanced around at the others. "I want all of you to try it and get it right."

Jaelyn was pleased and impressed by how quick they were learning.

Within thirty minutes, all of her pupils had strung the bow correctly. It took a few of them more than one try, but they eventually got it right.

They had completed the stringing lesson close to midday, which gave Jaelyn extra time to teach them how to fletch arrows and get a few hours of archery practice.

The woodsmith was still working on the bows. Only a handful of them had been constructed, so the natives had to take turns during practice.

All in all, it ended up being a good day.

When the sun was beginning to dip below the horizon, Jaelyn ended practice for the day and then made her way for Olland's hut to visit her baby sister.

Jaelyn had not seen her since returning to the village with her but she knew Olland's wife had been kind enough to take care of Baeylene while Jaelyn was busy training the natives.

She still had a decision to make about her sister.

Eventually, they were going to get off that island. There was no question about Jaelyn wanting to take Baeylene with her. The question was how was Baeylene going to be cared for. Jaelyn didn't know the first thing about caring for babies and she hated the idea of taking her to an orphanange. Normal orphans were treated bad enough; a drow orphan wouldn't survive a day. The only other thing she could think of was taking her to the dragon clan that had raised her. She was unsure of how they would feel about having to raise another drow. She knew Weilsung enough to know that he probably wouldn't mind it, would maybe even look forward to it, but the rest of the clan weren't as open-minded and sympathetic as he was. Weilsung had told her once when she was older that most of the clan had disliked and protested the idea of their clan raising a drow. They had even shunned her for a while. Eventually, they gave in, as they came to see that she was not like most drow.

Perhaps taking Baeylene to the Vakavsavala clan was the best thing to do. It was really the only option Baeylene had. Besides, Jaelyn had come out fine. Surely her sister would, too.

Deep in her thoughts, Jaelyn didn't notice she was being followed until the person was upon her.

"It's good to see you, Jaelyn."

The drow started and spun around, her eyes wide and her hand reaching down to the sword strapped at her hip.

She was only getting used to the thing being there, so she fumbled a bit for it. It felt weird carrying around the sword, but Bishop had insisted that she start doing to get used to it since she was going to be wearing one from now on.

Jaelyn found herself faced with Akereth and she tried to hold back a sneer.

He was the last person she wanted to see.

Akereth still had no idea that she was aware of the trick he had played on her and Bishop, and Jaelyn was fine with keeping him in the dark for now.

Let the fool go on thinking he had won. It didn't matter. She knew the truth and Bishop knew the truth; that was all that mattered. Besides, things had a way of working themselves out. It wasn't like they could get him back for it, anyway, not with war looming on the horizon; they would need every able-bodied fighter they could get, even if it meant fighting along side that deceiving little bastard.

Jaelyn forced a pleasant smile.

"It's been a while."

Akereth nodded, returning the smile. "It has. I saw you walking and I wanted to say hello and find out how things are going with the..." He tried to form the drow word for archery but seemed to be having trouble with it.

"Archery lessons?"

"Yes."

"They're going well." Jaelyn replied and turned away from him, setting her course for Olland's hut again.

She wasn't surprised when Akereth began walking with her, at her side.

"That's good. I've been learning swordplay under your friend Quin. He is a good teacher."

Jaelyn made a noncommittal sound and then there was silence.

"So, uh...where are you headed?"

"To see my sister."

"Ah, I heard Lord Olland's wife is caring for her and has taken to her. Not surprising, I guess. The child is beautiful and heart-warming, just like her sister."

Jaelyn stopped and looked at him. He was smiling, his blue eyes glittering.

She wanted to crush that smile beneath her boots. How dare he smile at her like that after what he'd done! How dare he act like he hadn't nearly ruined whatever it was she and Bishop had.

Jaelyn looked away, fearing that her eyes would give away the anger building inside her.

"Look, you can't talk to me in this manner anymore. I already told you that there can't be anything between us anymore. Besides, if Bishop were to-"

"Bishop?" Akereth demanded, his brows furrowing in a mixture of confusion and anger. "I thought you were done with him after what he did to you."

She shrugged. "I've forgiven him. He was drunk and made a mistake."

"Is that what he said? And you believed it?"

"I'm not going to let something like that come between us."

She turned to continue on, but Akereth reached out with his right hand and grabbed her arm in a painfully tight grip. When she was faced with him again, she saw a feverish gleam in his eyes that made her question his sanity. She tried to jerk her arm out of his grip, but his finger's tightened, his nails digging into her skin.

"Don't you see how foolish you're being?"

"Let go!"

"You must see that bastard for what he is!" he shouted in angry desperation.

That was it. Jaelyn had had enough of this and enough of him.

She reached out lightning quick and grabbed his right arm. She spun with her back to him and in the same move, used his right arm to launch him over her shoulder.

His grip broke on her and he fell on his back in the dirt, wincing. He tried to get up, but Jaelyn's boot pushed him back into the dirt. She kept her foot on his chest, holding him there as she leaned over him.

"I've seen him for what he is. And I've seen you for what you are, and you, Akereth, are the one I should've been warned about."

She didn't care anymore about keeping him in the dark. She was angry and she wanted him to know it.

Akereth blinked up at her.

"What're you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb with me!" she shouted at him. "You know what you did, hiring that village trollop to sleep with him!"

At first, Akereth did nothing. Then, he smiled. It was thoroughly devilish; a nasty, dirty smile that could've put one of Bishop's to shame.

"Well, he didn't _have_ to sleep with her, you know." he said.

Jaelyn sneered down at him. "You didn't give him much of a choice, now did you, considering you drugged him somehow."

"Drugged him?" Akereth replied. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Oh, I'm certain you know _exactly_ what I'm talking about. Gulaonar peered into his memories. Bishop thought it was me. I guess you forgot to consider Gulaonar before you went ahead with your little plan, huh?"

Akereth laughed and shrugged. "I figured Gulaonar wouldn't help him, given how he feels about him."

"You were wrong."

"Well, you have to admit, it may not have been the best laid out plan but it almost worked."

"Almost. It _didn't_ work. And now we all know what kind of a person you really are."

"Are you going to stand there and tell me that bastard wouldn't have done something similar had he been in my position? Unlikely. It really makes us no different from one another."

Jaelyn grinned. "On the contrary, it actually makes you quite different from each other. If Bishop had done it, it would've worked."

"You just think he's perfect, don't you?"

"No, I'm aware of his many flaws. I just think he's better than you." she retorted. "I'm curious, though. What did you drug him with?"

Akereth glared and shoved her foot away from his chest.

"Go ask him. Since he's so better than me, I'm sure he can figure it out."

Jaelyn shook her head. "He knows you were the one that set him up. He'll come for you and when he does, I'm not going to stop him."

"Let him come, then." Akereth snapped as he got to his feet, dusting himself off. "If he tries to kill me, this entire village will seek his blood in return."

Jaelyn smiled. "That shows how little you know about him. He'll make sure no one can put his name to the crime."

"One man can't kill an entire village."

"That wasn't what I meant. No one knows the identity of the culprit when he strikes from the shadows. For all you know, he could be hidden somewhere right now with an arrow aimed at your head. You'll never see it coming."

Jaelyn was satisfied to see a glimpse of fear cross Akereth's face. He even looked over his shoulder as if searching for the figure in the shadows.

It was wrong, what she had done, but it served him right.

She didn't bother hiding her smile when he turned back.

Akereth frowned and shook his head. "I don't understand this. My father's prophecies are always correct. You were supposed to be the one."

"Well, I'm not and I never will be. Accept it. Stop living your life by these foolish prophecies."

"But they aren't foolish. They've been correct thus far. How do you ignore that?"

Jaelyn sighed. "Maybe you're right. Maybe there is something to this prophecy your father told you. It said you were to fall in love with a woman from across the sea, one who would become a heroine to your people. I guess you're claiming this has happened but I'm also guessing it never said anything about her returning those feelings. I don't have feelings for you and I never will. I have feelings for him and I am not going to let someone come between us."

Akereth's face darkened and anger flashed across his features before being replaced by indifference.

"If you're implying that I would come between the two of you, don't concern yourself about it. He'll do the job for me. No matter how much you love him, he'll never love you back. Even if he did, he would never admit it and I think you know that to be true."

"I've heard enough!" Jaelyn snapped at him, angered that he had seen what she truly feared. "Just back off. Stay away from us."

With that, Jaelyn turned and left Akereth standing there.

**xxxxxxxxxx**

The long walk back to the village had provided Bishop with the time and solitude he needed to clear his mind and try to figure out what the drow could possibly want with Jaelyn.

What could she provide for them? That drow had mentioned that Dresmor had a use for her, but try as he might, he just couldn't figure out what use she could possibly be. They may only want her for information, or maybe she had some more important use in Dresmor's plans. Whatever the case may be, there was one thing the ranger knew for certain. Once Jaelyn outlived her usefulness, they would get rid of her.

It figured something like this would happen and at this moment, when he was at his weakest. He was forced to make a choice that would destroy everything no matter its outcome: his life or hers.

Survival instinct kicked in. He wasn't going to die for her. He couldn't, no matter what he felt. And so he decided the best way to go about this was to forget he had any feelings for her at all, to fill the holes she had made in his so called fortress.

He would deliver Jaelyn to the drow, get that spider thing removed from his chest, and be done with all of it.

He approached the dark and quiet village, determined to see his plan through.

There was no one around which would make his task that much easier. He wouldn't have to deal with any one getting in his way.

The plan was simple. He would pretend to want to show her a place in the forest that he thought she might like. He knew she wouldn't refuse that. When they got far enough away from the village, he would knock her out and tie her up to prevent escape. She would eventually wake up and start asking question, so he would likely gag her as well. He didn't want to have to answer her questions. He didn't want her to have the ability to speak at all; he knew she would try to talk him out of it and there was no way out of this one. The drow that had done this to him had made that crystal clear. He wasn't sure the drow would keep his word once he gave Jaelyn over to them, but he wasn't taking the chance either way.

Bishop crossed the village and made his way toward Jaelyn's hut.

Once at her door, he hesitated.

He could have laughed at his behavior. Hesitation? He never hesitated, not for anything.

He pushed through the curtain, but it was not Jaelyn he found within.

It was Quin.

The halfling was sitting on her bed, petting Feral. He looked up upon Bishop's sudden presence, offered that inane smile of his.

"Well, look who's come out of hiding today! Haven't seen you around. Wh-"

Bishop cut him off, impatiently. "Where is she?"

"Jae?"

"Who else?" Bishop snapped.

"Oh, she's at Olland's place, spending time with her-"

The curtain fluttered. Bishop was gone.

Quin frowned and looked down at Feral. "How rude."

At Olland's hut, Bishop found himself hindered by the guards, Grimnar and Akereth.

It was Akereth giving him the most trouble, however. He seemed to look for any reason to start something with him.

He held out his hand to stop him from entering the hut and spoke probably the only Common word he knew.

"No."

The look of hatred in the young native's face was almost impossible to ignore. Bishop revelled in it. He didn't miss how Akereth's other hand gripped his new sword, either, as if the little bastard even knew how to use it.

If Bishop didn't have a more pressing engagment to see to, he might have slaughtered him there, witnesses or not.

It was going to happen one way or another, that he swore to himself. Akereth wasn't going to get away with crossing him.

Bishop gave him a dark, menacing look and then without a word, he shouldered past the native, who began spouting words of his language at Bishop as he entered the hut.

Inside, Olland sat on a rickety, wooden chair, across from one of his people. They were deep in conversation and didn't notice the ranger until Akereth came in after him and grabbed his arm. Bishop stared at that offending hand for a moment and then glared at the owner of it. His expression was nothing more than a warning. He was seconds away from permanently removing that hand.

Akereth didn't seem to notice, however. He was speaking to Olland in a somewhat apologetic tone of voice.

Olland shook his head and rose his hand in a gesture that told him all transgressions were forgiven. He said something else and Akereth finally let Bishop go. He sneered at the ranger before returning to his post outside.

Olland gestured for the ranger to step closer.

His fellow native was watching from his spot across from Olland.

Bishop looked between the two and then finally settled his gaze on the leader. He spoke one word they both knew well, a word that transcended the language barrier.

"Jaelyn?"

It was another one of his rare usages of her name. Although, there was no other way he could've gotten his needs across to the leader of the natives, it still felt kind of nice saying it.

_Don't be stupid._

Olland pointed to a room at his right and inclined his head with a soft smile.

Bishop ignored it and proceeded to the room Olland had indicated. He stood in the threshold for a moment, simply watching her, watching her as he had done when they had been out in the woods with the natives; just watching her be.

Jaelyn sat on the floor across from a native woman, her infant half-sister cradled in her arms. The native was also cradling an infant. Both women were having a conversation in the drow langauge and every so often Jaelyn would look down at her sister, coo at her and make silly faces to get her to laugh. The infant drow's tiny, dark hands reached out and clamped onto Jaelyn's hair and face, gently pulling.

Jaelyn simply laughed, pulled the tiny hands away and kissed them.

Something stirred within his fortress at the sound of her laugh, at the sight of her smile. He wasted no time in forcing it back into the cold darkness.

He had an alarming, horrifying thought, then.

Would those strange feelings keep arising? Would they fade in time? Or was the damage she inflicted permanent?

Why had he been so foolish as to let it come to this? Why, after all these years of pushing and keeping people away, had he let this one person get to him? Why her?..._Why_?

Silence. No answers came to him. Why he even expected to find any was beyond him.

He supposed at this point it didn't really matter anymore. Whatever answers he would've found, they would not have swayed him away from what he had to do.

She would come to understand it in time. If she never forgave him, then it was probably for the best.

Bishop straightened from the frame of the threshold, his resolve set.

He felt numb. It wasn't a foreign feeling for the ranger. In fact, he'd felt the same thing moments before resorting his home to flaming ruins.

"Hey, drow."

Jaelyn's head turned in his direction, his presence setting a different smile upon her lovely face.

He smirked back at her, the fakest smirk he could manage.

Maybe some deeper part of him wanted her to see right through him. But she didn't.

Her smile widened. "Bishop."

It was always different when she said his name compared to how anyone else said it. There was always something more in it, as if it were more than just a name to her.

He could've laughed.

Why was it you always notice these things about someone right before you're about to hurt them?

Perhaps it was some form of justice, to make the offender have a taste of the suffering before the soon-to-be offended tasted it themself. Or perhaps it was some way of trying to change the offenders mind. It wasn't going to work on him, however.

The smirk on him never faultered as he spoke his next words.

"Let's go for a little stroll. There's something I want to show you."


	35. Chapter 35: Doing What Must Be Done

**xxxxxx**

* * *

**Chapter Thirty-Five:**

**Doing What Must Be Done**

**xxxxxx**

**Jaelyn** was surprised to say the least.

She supposed it was fitting considering whatever it was Bishop wanted to show her was meant to be a surprise, and then there was the fact that him and surprises walked hand-in-hand. It was just one of the things she appreciated about him.

As they walked side by side along the forest path, Jaelyn stole glances at him.

He was strangely silent. He hadn't spoken a word since they had left the village and he did seem rather distant; more than usual, that was. He hadn't even looked in her direction. He just walked, staring straight ahead, perhaps his attention focused on their destination. But his uncharacteristic silence was starting to bother her.

"So, where is this place?" she inquired.

"Not far."

"Why are you taking me there?"

His head snapped around in her direction. His fleeting expression told her that her question had surprised him, caught him off guard.

He shook his head as if to clear it and then replied, brusquely, "Thought you might like it."

Jaelyn gave him a curious look. "Really?"

His response was a shrug.

"You're acting weird, Bishop. More than usual. Are you all right?"

He frowned. Already she was asking questions and he hadn't even done anything yet. He was glad he had brought that gag with him.

"Fine." he replied to her question and picked up his pace. The sooner he got this done, the better.

Jaelyn struggled to keep up with him, which was a first. Usually, she had no trouble keeping up; she often headed him off. Wherever he was taking her, he was certainly eager to get there.

It made her heart flutter to know that he cared enough to want to show her this place, thinking she might like it. It made her heart flutter to know that this gesture meant he obviously shared her feelings. Why else would he do it? Bishop wasn't in the habit of making nice gestures. Then again, he wasn't in the habit of having feelings, either, especially not gentle ones.

She knew that if he did share her feelings, he would never tell her how he felt in words. Jaelyn was fine with it as long as he expressed himself in gesture and deed. In her opinion, words were more easily masked than deeds, and deeds spoke louder than words.

They finally reached a place where the trees opened up into a small glade. Within this glade was a pond, surrounded by large moss-covered boulders. There was a faint trickling sound where a thin stream met the pool of water. Moonlight shone off the surface, turning it into liquid silver.

Both rangers paused to take in the scenery.

"This is it." Bishop announced.

Jaelyn looked at him, smiled brightly, and then returned her gaze to the glade and its pond.

"It's beautiful. I can't believe we never came across this place before."

She walked ahead of him a bit as he knew she would do and stopped close to the edge of the pond.

He closed in behind her, his face dark with finality.

The last thing Jaelyn saw before her world was draped in darkness was his reflection in the water, his hand raising his dagger to clobber her in the back of the head with its pommel.

In that brief second, she knew he had tricked her.

Bishop wasted no time in tieing her up. He was getting the rope out of his pack before her body even hit the ground.

There was really no rush. He knew he could easily make the drow stronghold in two days, three at the most. But he wasn't taking the risk of giving himself time to think.

_There's no other choice._

That same mantra played itself over and over inside his head, as if he had to keep convincing himself. It was stupid. He didn't need any convincing. What he was doing was just a means to an end, an end that had been a long time coming.

He bound her arms behind her back and then bound her legs together. He double checked his knots to make sure they were secure and tight enough. Next, he pulled the gag around her mouth and gently tied it at the back of her head.

He lifted her up and hauled her over his shoulder as he got to his feet.

She was light, hardly a burden at all and there wouldn't be much need for rest as he had first thought. Things would soon change when she regained consciousness and realized she was now his prisoner, however. He knew she was going to fight and try to escape. That part was as inevitable as having to face her look of betrayal.

He put all his attention into his environment, kept himself focused on the sights and sounds of the forest. His alert state, though necessary, also kept him from thinking of other things.

Traveling at night wasn't usually a good idea. Given the fact that they were on a strange island with drow, it was probably the worst idea conceivable, but he wanted to get a good ways away from the village before he called it a night.

Bishop had traveled about five miles before he became aware of someone following him. It was a feeling only, just something he could sense. The hairs on the back of his neck were standing on end and when he looked back over his shoulder, a dark figure played in the moonlight against the forest backdrop.

He cursed himself for not realizing it sooner. In his focused state, he should've known it in that first mile; something should have alerted him to it. Then he remembered where he was. Where a sudden flight of birds or a startled animal might have warned him of the presence, there were none of those things out here.

He may not have known someone was following him at first, but he knew without a doubt who it was.

Thankfully, the idiot hadn't brought anyone with him, so when the time came, he would be easily taken care of; something else that was a long time coming.

Truly, he was surprised the native had the guts to follow him at all. His obsession with the drow was more severe than Bishop had thought if he was willing to walk toward death for her.

The fool native was just another victim of that ruinous emotion called love, but if he was willing to die for her, Bishop would certainly oblige him.

He had to give the man credit, though. He didn't seem to have trouble following him.

Though the drow was light, she still put pressure on Bishop's step, and where he normally left no trace of himself behind, there were now the faintest of tracks.

It still would've taken considerable skill to follow, especially in the dark, but the native had tracked him well enough.

Bishop grinned in the darkness.

He already knew what to do with him. He would lure the fool into a trap, using the drow as bait. It would be no more difficult than trying to trap a mouse.

Bishop traveled half a mile more before spotting a cluster of boulders that would easily shield him from sight, a perfect place to camp for the night.

His prisoner had yet to move or make a sound, so Bishop assumed she had a while yet before she came to. It was probably a good thing. She wasn't going to want to see what would soon unfold.

He propped her up against one of the boulders and checked the knots on her bonds again. He was about to stand and go out into the forest when she gave a small, almost inaudible moan.

Everything was telling him to get up and get out of there before she came to and saw him, but he didn't move. Better to just get it over with than to delay the inevitable.

He stayed there and plastered on a dark smirk for her.

Jaelyn's brows came together as she moaned again. She turned her head a bit and winced, and then her eyes shot open. They darted around her environment in confusion, and then noted the ties that bound her. She fought them for a moment, gave up, and finally rested her gaze on him.

She stared right into his eyes. It had the same effect on him as if two arrows had just shot directly into his heart.

Her brows came together again in confusion, then she looked him over, noting that he wasn't tied up and gagged as she was.

The memory flooded back, of seeing his reflection in the water with his arm raised, the pommel of his dagger aimed at the back of her head.

He had tricked her. He had knocked her out, tied her up and dragged her all the way out here. Why? Why had he done this?

Jaelyn struggled against her bonds again and began spewing words against her gag. Her eyes were like green fire as they stared into his, demanding answers. She was angry, and really, he didn't blame her.

_Good_, he wanted to tell her. _Be angry. Hate me. It'll make this easier._

The smirk that had been on his face flew away.

"Don't bother." he told her, his voice rough and full of malice. "Nothing you say is going to save you now."

Bishop got to his feet and turned away.

He didn't get far before her voice froze him in place. Though it was muffled against the cloth around her mouth, Bishop could easily make out the word she spoke: _Why?_

He'd never heard such angry demand in that voice before. It was probably the only time she had ever truly demanded something of him and it was probably the only time he would oblige her.

He didn't turn or look at her when he spoke.

"'Cause I don't have a choice."

Her eyes followed him as he disappeared out into the forest, the darkness swallowing him.

Jaelyn twisted her wrists in a vain attempt to loosen the knot in her bonds. She only succeeded in making the rope cut into her skin. She felt around on the ground behind her, hoping to come across a sharp piece of rock, anything that might help her cut through the ties. With no such luck, she had to settle for rubbing the rope against any sharp crevices in the boulder behind her.

She worked fast, ignoring the sting in her wrists as the rope and the hard rock cut more and more into her skin. Already, she could feel warm blood on the palms of her hands.

The rope was weakening, but it was taking too long. She had no idea when Bishop would be back.

She had no idea about anything. What in the hells was going on? Why was he kidnapping her? Where was he taking her? What was he doing? What was all this about not having a choice?

Jaelyn shook her head, trying to clear it so she could focus. She could worry about answers once she was free.

She felt some of the threads loosening and so she stopped rubbing it against the boulder to try and break her ties with her own strength. She wasn't strong enough and her efforts only made the rope dig into the strips of raw bleeding flesh on her wrists.

Jaelyn moaned in pain, her teeth clenching around the cloth in her mouth, and she squeezed her eyes shut as she pulled harder to no avail.

She ceased all movement, gave herself a moment to shake off the pain. When it subsided, she opened her eyes to find someone standing there in the middle of the campsite.

It was Akereth.

Her brows furrowed in confusion. What in the hells was going on?

Akereth looked down at her for a long moment, a strange expression on his face. It seemed almost as if he pitied her.

He glanced around himself as if making sure he was alone and then stepped toward her.

Jaelyn shrank back away from him and Akereth threw up his hands, giving his head a shake.

"I'm not going to hurt you, Jaelyn. After he did this to you, you still do not trust me?"

She shook her head roughly and muffled a 'no' against her gag.

Akereth laughed. "Not a very nice thing to say to your rescuer. I should leave you here with him, considering you still seem to be on his side despite all this. Are you really so foolish?"

Jaelyn's brows furrowed again and she muffled something in a rough tone. It couldn't be made out, but Akereth doubted it was anything pleasant.

He sighed and shrugged. "Perhaps once I save your life, you'll start seeing things more clearly. Perhaps you'll even be grateful."

He stepped forward again and was about to kneel down to her when she saw him, a menacing shadow moving from the darkness of the forest into the moonlight that bathed their camp.

The look on Bishop's face was something to truly fear. The expression there was full of anger and hatred and it was set with a fierce determination. His dagger glinted in the moonlight as he closed in on Akereth.

To watch him creep up on the native was startling. He moved with an eerie fluidity, like a snake in water, completely unheard and unseen by his prey.

She may have told Akereth that she didn't care what happened to him as a result of his trick, that she wouldn't help him when Bishop finally sought his revenge, but she hadn't truly meant it. It had been said in the heat of the moment, when her temper was still flaring. She was now regretting those words. After all, he had once been a friend to her and they'd had some good times together.

Jaelyn cried out and jerked against her bonds in a violent manner in an attempt to alert Akereth to the ranger's presence, but he only frowned at her in confusion.

Bishop caught him in an iron grip and pressed the keen edge of his knife against Akereth's throat in the same move. The native jerked in surprise, drawing in a sharp gasp that ended in a somewhat strangled sound as the edge of the knife pressed deeper under his Adam's apple, drawing a bit of blood.

Akereth knew who had him at the knife's edge and damned himself for his stupidity. He spewed dozens of profanities in the drow language, but they had no effect on those around him. He would have struggled more, but with the knife as close and deep as it was, he knew one sharp move might end his life. Akereth could only keep still and look to Jaelyn to call off the ranger.

Jaelyn held the ranger's frigid, empty gaze. She shook her head and muttered a single word against the gag in her mouth.

_Don't._

Her eyes pleaded with him. But his reflected nothing back.

"I suggest you look away, drow. You're not going to want to see this."

Jaelyn continued staring at him, now in confusion.

Did he not want her to see it happen at all? Or did he not want her to see him do it? Why would he even try to spare her this in the first place?

She shook her head. If she refused to look away, maybe there was a chance he wouldn't do it.

Bishop grit his teeth in frustration. "You want to see him die, then? It won't be pretty."

What was he doing?

Jaelyn only shook her head and kept her eyes on his.

She was calm. She was too calm and it perturbed him; he couldn't stand it. She seemed to think he wouldn't do it.

It irritated and pissed him off, more than she could know. He would prove her wrong. If she didn't want to turn away, then she would watch the native die in a puddle of his own blood.

Bishop pressed his dagger into the native's throat, was about to pull it across the flesh in a neat, deep line that would sever the artery beneath, but his hand stilled as he felt her eyes boring into him.

It was an odd sensation. He could feel them without even having to see them as if they were two hot beams penetrating him.

He looked at her and frowned.

Her unwavering gaze nailed him there, but deeper into those green depths was a challenge. She was daring him to do it, daring him to kill this worthless, meddling native. Testing him.

As if he couldn't do it!

Then why wasn't he doing it?

Again, he prepared to draw that blade across Akereth's throat and again, he faltered.

Frustration and anger built up in him at the absurdity of this, at his own hesitation to do something so simple, something he had done many times before without batting an eye. How dare she!

He knew he couldn't do it, not like this, not with her watching. But he had to kill him. If Bishop let him go, he would tell the village what had happened, what he had done. He knew he could easily outrun any of the villagers, but he couldn't outrun the ghost and that was who was likely to come after him. He had to kill him, but she...

Why did she have to do this to him?

"Look away!" he yelled at her.

Still, she refused.

She had a stubborn will and determination to match his own. It was so damn aggravating.

Jaelyn's eyes never left his. Her brows were set in a deep furrow above those green eyes. She was breathing heavily, her nostrils flaring and her small chest heaving.

He knew no matter how much he screamed and shouted at her, she was not going to look away. The little bitch knew he wouldn't do it in front of her. She knew it.

Bishop let out a frustrated, enraged yell.

"Fine!"

He gripped Akereth tightly by the back of his neck and began forcing him toward the forest.

"Move!"

Akereth wasn't sure of what he said, but he could guess and he could do nothing but obey. He knew what he was walking toward: his own death.

When they were yards away from the camp, Akereth jabbed his elbow backwards into Bishop's stomach. The blow caught him off guard long enough for Akereth to break free. He leaped forward into a run, but he wasn't quick enough to evade Bishop for long. He got only a few yards before the ranger caught him by the back of his crude leather tunic.

Lost to his rage, Bishop slammed him face first into a tree. Akereth cried out in pain and fell back into the dirt, his hands over his face. Blood was coming out between his fingers from his broken nose.

Bishop wasted no time in doing what that bitch of a drow had tried to keep him from doing, what she thought he couldn't do.

He knelt quickly by Akereth, pressing a knee into the native's chest to keep him pinned to the ground. Akereth waved his arms about in a desperate attempt to ward off his attacker. His vision was unfocused and his ears were ringing, leaving him debilitated and unable to defend himself properly.

Bishop thrusts the native's waving arms away and in a quick move of uncanny precision, he sliced his knife against Akereth's throat.

There was an instant spray of blood that splattered the ranger's face and armor. His hand and knife were stained in it.

Akereth gurgled and clutched his gushing throat for a brief moment, then he grew still. His face was locked in an expression of shock and fear. His widened blue eyes stared at Bishop, but they no longer saw him.

The ranger got to his feet, stiffly. He looked in the direction of the camp and was stunned when a moments worth of regret dared to cross through him. He quashed it without hesitation. He regretted nothing, especially not this.

He glanced back down at the dead native and felt nothing.

It was strange; he had expected some kind of relief out of this, anything, but there was nothing. He was still angry, still frustrated and now he was unsatisfied with a kill he had longed for. All because of..._her_. It was her fault. The sooner he got rid of her, the better.

He gripped his dripping dagger tightly, gave an indignant snort to the pathetic, leaking corpse at his feet and then started back toward the camp.

Perhaps he could get what he needed out of the drow; he could get some kind of satisfaction out of the look on her face when she saw him covered in that bastard's blood.

He got something entirely different.

The moment Bishop stepped foot in camp, Jaelyn looked up at him, and the first thing she noticed, of course, was the blood on him.

Her face creased in dismay as she took in his gruesome appearance, his blood-spattered face, and then she saw the knife in his hand. Both the knife and his hand were stained a deep, dribbling crimson.

She whimpered against her gag, shook her head, and squeezed her eyes shut. She tried to convince herself that she was just seeing things, that this couldn't possibly be happening, but when she opened her eyes, Bishop's blood-stained image still stood before her, emotionlessly.

He insisted on remaining that way. She wasn't going to get to him, not this time. Not ever again. He was done with her, done with those feelings she made him feel.

He sneered at her from where he stood. "Didn't think I'd do it? Well, you were wrong. That little bastard's lying dead in a pool of his own blood as we speak." He gestured the knife at her in a threatening manner. "Test me like that again, drow, and you'll be joining him."

Jaelyn stared at him in horror, her eyes welling with tears.

She had never seen him at his worst until now. She knew he was capable of this, but she had hoped it would never happen, that maybe he could overcome that darkness.

She had been wrong.

That spark of goodness she knew existed in him was nothing more than a dull flicker now. There was no telling when it would be completely extinguished. And already she was mourning its demise. It meant the end of everything she had hoped for, for her self, for them both.

She was overwhelmed by a feeling of utter helplessness; it was as if he were dying and there was nothing she could do about it.

Jaelyn looked away from him, lowered her head as the tears spilled over onto her cheeks. Her hair did a good job of hiding her face from him, but he could tell she was crying by the trembling of her shoulders.

Bishop looked away momentarily and grit his teeth, trying his damnedest to ignore the sudden, unwarranted pain he felt.

The longer he stood there staring at her, the deeper that pain went and it began to stir up other unwanted emotions.

He clenched his free hand into a fist while his other gripped the dagger. Those feelings became almost unbearable, and he was close to just spilling his guts, telling her everything about what had happened, why he was being forced to do this. Part of him wanted her to understand it all. If she understood, she might forgive him...

He shook his head, disgusted and shocked by where his train of thought had lead him.

_All of this because of that damn native and this island! All this because I had the stupidity to team up with this fucking drow and her runt of a sidekick!_

"Fuck!" he shouted without warning and slammed his fist into a nearby tree, which, much to the ranger's fortune, made no act of retaliation.

His outburst made Jaelyn jerk her head up in surprise. Her watery eyes were wide as she stared at him. She shrank back against the boulder and tried to make herself as small as possible, hoping that he wouldn't notice her and take his anger out on her.

But he did notice her. He glared at her and he wanted to take his anger out on her; she was the cause of it. He wanted to mock her pathetic crying; he wanted to kick her while she was down. He wanted her to feel the way she was making him feel now.

He slumped back against the tree he had assaulted and lowered his head with a heavy sigh. He could still feel her eyes on him, probably condemning him.

_Let her._

He rubbed his forehead with the hand not stained in Akereth's blood, out of frustration, and then pushed himself away from the tree. He made his way over to her and noted how she shrank back from his approach.

Bishop knelt down in front of her, ignoring her stare as he began undoing the ties that bound her ankles together. He wound the rope up, stuck it in his pack, and then got to his feet. She would not stop staring at him, her eyes wide, wet and releasing a stray tear every now and then.

He realized then that she wasn't condemning him at all. She was afraid of him.

Had this happened when they had first met, he would've been glad to have put her in her place, to make her fear him, but he'd made the mistake of getting to know her, of allowing himself to like the fact that she stood up to him and never bowed down to any of his threats. He'd allowed himself to like her, everything about her. Now, she feared him. He'd destroyed the very thing he loved most about her.

Bishop almost started out of his skin in both shock and disgust as that godsforsaken word came without warning: loved.

He didn't love anything about her. He didn't love her at all.

Angry, he grabbed her arm in a tight, painful grip and hauled her up to her feet in an ungracious manner.

"We're not going to rest here after all. So, start walking, drow, and don't stop until I say. And don't try anything clever, either or I swear by every fucking god, I will cut you from ear to ear."

**xxxxxxxxxx**

Bishop pulled Jaelyn along through the undergrowth, his hand gripping her arm tight in case she decided to get foolish and attempt escape.

They were moving fast and he could tell by her ragged breathing and her stumbling steps that she was exhausted. They hadn't rested or had anything to drink since leaving the camp, and that was well over two hours ago.

He didn't care. He wanted to get to the drow stronghold as quick as possible. He was tired of all of it.

Jaelyn forced herself to keep moving despite her aching legs. She was tired and thirsty but she had no idea what he'd do to her if she stumbled or slowed her pace.

Her mind was still full of questions that her gag prevented her from voicing. She had been working on trying to remove it little by little since they had left camp, turning her head this way and that in an effort to loosen the tie. It was a slow task, but it was working. She almost had it loosened enough so that she could slip her lips from under the cloth.

She risked a glance at him, her heavy eyes trying to focus him into clarity. As usual, she found nothing on his face but that mask of indifference. He stared ahead, his eyes never leaving his surroundings, but he kept her perfectly in his peripheral vision.

His eyes. Maybe it could be blamed on the night, but those gold eyes had lost their luster, that fierce spark she had become accustomed to seeing. They were dull, tired.

What was happening with him? She knew something was wrong, so why couldn't he just tell her what it was? Why didn't he trust her?

Her thoughts were jolted from her mind when, without warning, the entire world shook with a loud rumble. The ground trembled violently, throwing them off balance. They stumbled about until Bishop grabbed on to the nearest tree to steady himself, his hand still gripping her arm. He looked around, wondering what in the Nine Hells was going on.

From somewhere close by, a weakened tree came to its booming demise on the forest floor and the trembling abated.

The deafening sound made Jaelyn jerk her head around in alarm and she was finally able to free her mouth from the gag.

"What was that?"

Still scanning the forest, Bishop shook his head. "No idea."

His head snapped around to her and he narrowed his eyes as he pushed her forward. "Whatever it was, it's over with now, so get moving!"

She frowned and started walking. And that was when she noticed it.

Jaelyn glanced up to look at the sky. Other than a few slow passing clouds, the sky was clear. It didn't have that shimmery, translucent glaze to it. The barrier was gone and the island had stopped moving.

She stopped and was immediately prodded in the back in a less-than-gentle manner.

"What part of 'get moving' don't you understand, drow?"

Jaelyn frowned at him. "Would you just wait? Look!" She thrust her chin skyward.

Bishop rolled his eyes and looked up. He cocked his head to the side momentarily and then shrugged, prodding her forward again.

"So, the magic shield or whatever it is is gone. Doesn't matter to me. Move!"

Jaelyn sighed and started walking again. "Don't you realize what it means?"

"Should I care?"

Jaelyn looked at him, hoping he couldn't see through her ploy. "Of all people, I would think you'd care the most. The island has stopped moving. We can leave the island now. The natives have fixed the boat. Let's go back. We can just leave. They'll never know."

Bishop looked at her in surprise. He had to admit, he wouldn't have expected her to pull something like this. He never thought of her as the type to manipulate others. He must've rubbed off on her.

He laughed and shook his head. "Do you really think I'd believe you'd leave those pathetic natives to face the drow alone? You don't have it in you."

"I do now. Forget them. Let them rot." she replied. "Let's get out of here. Come on!"

She knew she had pushed it too aggressively, but she was desperate, desperate to get him to stop whatever he was doing.

He smirked. "Too late for that."

Bishop returned his gaze to the path ahead as a way of telling her the conversation was over, but Jaelyn refused to quit.

"Why are you doing this?" she demanded.

He remained silent. His hand squeezed her arm.

Her eyes pleaded with him. "Tell me, please."

He wanted to, but he wasn't going to.

"Why won't you tell me? Why won't you trust me? Whatever it is, we can figure it out together. Please, Bishop."

"It doesn't matter anymore." he finally said, his voice taking a hollow tone. "When we reach our destination, everything ends. One of us will eventually leave this island, but it's not going to be you."


	36. Chapter 36: Another Way

**xxxxxx**

* * *

**Chapter Thirty-Six:**

**Another Way**

**xxxxxx**

**They** had traveled until evening of the following day.

It had been a long, silent journey much to Bishop's fortune. Jaelyn hadn't spoken a single word since their last conversation, either out of anger at him or out of exhaustion and he was glad he didn't have to listen to some kind of lecture or reprimand from her. In fact, she hadn't even looked at him. She merely walked along with him as he pulled her through the forest. She was obeying him, she wasn't attempting to escape or fight as he expected her to do. He figured he would've had to knock her out by now. She was either too tired or too afraid to do anything. Perhaps it was both.

Though she said not a word to him, her expression spoke volumes. It was a mix of anger, confusion, and hurt. She had no idea what was going on or why he was doing this. Hells, he wasn't even sure what he was doing. He still couldn't figure out what Dresmor wanted with her.

They made camp near a small stream. It was a bit exposed, but Bishop supposed it would do for the night. Besides, it wasn't like anyone was going to come for them.

Bishop shoved Jaelyn toward a tree.

"Sit." His voice was low, harsh, and left no room for argument.

Without a word, Jaelyn did as he said, sitting down on the ground with her back against the tree. She was sweaty, angry and beyond exhausted. She had no strength left in her to fight him, either emotionally or physically.

He knelt in front of her, shouldered off his pack and brought the rope out of it. He grabbed her legs, pulled them forward and bound them together at the ankles with the rope. He checked the knot to make sure it was tight enough and then brought his canteen out of his pack only to find it empty. He got up and went to refill it at the nearby stream, as well as wash the native's dried blood from himself and his knife.

When he returned, he knelt in front of her once again and twisted the top off the canteen. The moment he reached out to her, she shrank back.

He frowned. "Do you want a drink or not?"

Jaelyn eyed him, the canteen, and then slowly nodded.

Bishop took her chin in his palm and pressed the canteen to her mouth. She tilted her head back so he could give her some water. It was cold and refreshing as she held it inside her mouth, tempted to swallow it, but she didn't. When he pulled the canteen back, she spat it in his face.

Bishop knelt there for a moment in surprise, then slowly wiped his face on his arm.

He stared at her, his face masking whatever he felt at her action and for one intense moment, something flashed in his eyes, and Jaelyn thought-was certain-he would hit her.

He didn't.

As he recapped his canteen, he broke into laughter, a true sound of amusment, as if she had told a joke he thought was hilarious.

She didn't understand him. Not long ago, if she had done something like that, he no doubt would've smacked her for it. She had no idea why he was laughing.

Bishop was simply relieved to see that the spark in her that he liked so much hadn't been snuffed out. He hadn't destroyed her.

In that relief, he reached out and caressed her face in a manner that was very much like affection.

Jaelyn tensed at his touch, uncertain of what to make of it or of how it was currently making her feel inside. A large part of her wanted nothing more than to give in to that touch, to speak the words that named those strong, deep emotions she still held for him in her heart, and she realized how ridiculous and foolish it was to want him still after he had kidnapped her and murdered Akereth. It didn't make those feelings go away, however, and in her weakness, she gave in.

She leaned into his touch and shut her eyes as if it were enough to shut out the world and the reality of their situation, to leave only her and him. Her entire body tingled as his thumb brushed her cheek and she felt him lean closer to her, so close that his natural warmth and scent enveloped her, leaving her dazed and even more vulnerable than she already was. His lips touched hers in a way they never had before. There was no ungovernable lust as there had been that moment on the cliff. It was a tender, warm, lingering kiss; no less powerful than the last kiss they'd shared. In fact, it seemed more powerful. His arms came around her in a gentle embrace while his mouth remained sealed to hers, and Jaelyn tensed again.

How could he kiss her like this now, with so much meaning behind it?

No, he couldn't. The kiss meant nothing. It was just another one of his tricks, just as it had been at that pond. He was merely preying on her feelings for him, probably trying to make her even more weak and vulnerable so she would give in to whatever purpose he had dragged her out there for. She wasn't going to fall for it.

The moment Bishop moved a hand down to release the ties that bound her arms behind her back, to free her, he realized she was no longer kissing him back. When he paused, she turned her face away from his, breaking that sweet connection.

There was a long moment of slience and slight confusion on his part as he still held her against him. Then she spoke, her voice cold.

"Get away from me."

Bishop drew back a bit and stared at her in surprise. She had caught him off-guard with her sudden coldness. He frowned, having no idea how to reply.

Her body was rigid in his arms and he saw the rough, angry expression on her face.

"What?"

She looked at him now, stared unflinchingly into his eyes, her own as hard and cold as steel.

"I said get away from me!"

He let her go, his frown deepening.

"Don't think for a second that I can't see what you're trying to do. I'm not as blind as you think I am. You are not going to use this against me, you son of a bitch."

Her words were like a knife in his heart, but he did well in hiding it behind his own coldness.

His frown turned into a nasty sneer and he let out a brief, sinister laugh before his hand seized her throat, yet he couldn't find it in himself to squeeze her windpipe in warning as he had done before.

"Yeah, and I warned you about that, didn't I? How easy it is for people to manipulate that emotion...You probably should've listened to me, not that it's going to matter now."

He released her and got to his feet. He glared down at her, his expression dark and malevolent.

"Don't move from that spot."

With that, he went over to the stream again and knelt down next to it. He stared into the water, at the tired man staring back at him.

He shouldn't have even bothered touching her and kissing her, but he just couldn't help it. It seemed like that was the only thing he ever wanted to do when he was around her. And the way her words had hurt him...he was beginning to wonder if whatever he felt for her couldn't be helped, either. Was he fighting a losing battle?

Her animosity toward him was to be expected considering what he had done and was still doing. She would be angry with him, she would hate him and never forgive him, and it would all be for the best. It was supposed to be for the best. But he realized she was getting the better end of it. His actions would create a divide between them, and she would be safe on her side, freed of her affectionate feelings for him, while he...

He wished she would do or say something that would make him hate her.

Bishop angrily drove his hand through the water, distorting his reflection.

Jaelyn watched him from her spot as he splashed water over his face, then he rose and went off to search for firewood.

She then looked in the direction they had been traveling and frowned. She now knew where he was taking her. During the silence of their travel, she'd had time to calm herself so she could think more clearly. She focused on the course of their path, the direction they were headed. Only one thing lay in that path: the drow stronghold. She remembered Gulaonar saying that it lay in the northeast corner of the island. The real question was why he was taking her there. To hand her over to them? Why? To be rid of her? He could easily do that himself. None of it made any sense.

She looked back just as he entered their camp, carrying a bundle of wood under his arm. He dropped it near her and knelt to begin stacking the wood into a neat pyramid.

Jaelyn watched him, thinking.

She was furious with him, but she didn't hate him for all he was doing. She supposed she could never hate him, but she couldn't trust him anymore, either. The damage was done now, and he was finally getting what he wanted: she would suffer her longing for him and he would carry on as if nothing had ever happened.

It hurt more than anything and all she could do was sit there and watch all her hopes for them both crumble around her. She knew nothing could sway Bishop once he was set on something and it was apparent that he had been set on this for a long time.

Why couldn't she hate him? How could she still have these feelings even after everything that had happened?

It was ridiculous.

When Jaelyn finally spoke, she didn't bother hiding any of her anger.

"Why are you taking me to them?"

She noted how Bishop stiffened at the question.

He paused in his construction of the campfire. He wasn't surprised that she finally figured out where he was taking her. She wasn't that stupid.

He reached for his pack and pulled out flint and steel. Wordlessly, he began striking sparks off onto the tender and wood.

She knew he wasn't going to answer.

"Why?" she demanded.

Again, he said nothing, but his frustration was showing through. He was frowning and he began scraping the flint and steel together more violently.

Jaelyn didn't care how frustrated he got. She wanted answers and by the gods, she would get them.

"Why, Bishop? Why are you doing this?"

Her words finally penetrated him. He tossed down his tools and glared at her.

"I told you why. I don't have any choice!"

"You do have a choice, so don't sit there and tell me that!" she shouted back, then took a breath to calm herself. "Tell me what's going on."

He looked away. "It doesn't matter."

She scoffed. "No, I guess not. When it involves anyone's life but your own, it never does matter."

He didn't say anything. Why would he? It was the truth, wasn't it? He was going to sacrifice her life for his own as if she had never meant anything to him.

"Whatever's going on with you," she said. "You don't have to do it alone. You're just making the choice to do it alone. And ultimately, you're making the choice to end my life. That's what's going to happen to me there, you know it as well as I do." She shook her head, her face full of despair. "Everything was a lie. I never meant anything to you."

Her words hurt, more for the fact that none of it had been a lie. He had never pretended with her, not after that night on the cliff.

Bishop was on his feet in a flash, advancing toward her with an unpleasant look on his face. Jaelyn stared at him in alarm, wondering if her death would come sooner than she thought.

"You think I _want_ to do this?" he shouted at her. "You think I have a choice? I'll show you how much of a fucking choice I have!"

He knelt down in front of her and Jaelyn nearly flinched back. He ripped open his tunic to show her the spider embedded in his chest.

"_This_ is my choice."

Jaelyn stared at it in surprise, unable to speak. The eight metal appendages were deep inside his chest. The skin around it was red, but the wounds had stopped bleeding long ago. There were some dried trails of blood he hadn't gotten around to cleaning off yet. He quickly pulled his armor closed again, seething at her.

"W-What in the hells is that thing?" she finally asked, looking up at him.

"A trap."

"Huh?"

"There's fatal poison in here." He tapped the metal spider gently through his leather armor. "It's set to release into my body in four days. Only the drow that put this damn thing in me knows how to take it out."

Jaelyn stared at him, appalled. She almost felt sorry for him, but she was still too angry and too hurt to let herself do so freely.

She sighed heavily. "Why didn't you just tell me?"

He scoffed. "Wouldn't have made a difference if I had."

Jaelyn frowned. "Yes, it would have. We could've figured something out."

"Oh, really?" he snapped. "And what could we have done? There's no way around this! The drow made damn sure of that."

"What do you mean? We could remove that thing somehow."

"You think they would've put this thing in me in the first place if it were that easy? No, it can't be tampered with or it'll release that poison."

She shook her head, her face now full of sadness. "If you had just told me what had happened, I would have gladly come of my own will. You wouldn't have had to trick and kidnap me. If you had only trusted me, it wouldn't have come to this and it wouldn't have cost Akereth his life!"

Bishop shrugged, coldly. "That bastard was looking at his last days, anyway. I had already planned on killing him. And if you think for a second that I believe you'd give yourself over to them willingly, you're dead wrong."

Jaelyn shook her head. "I _would_ have given myself over willingly, because I care about you. You're my friend. At least...I thought you were."

Bishop scowled and stood away from her. "You thought wrong."

"Apparently so. It wouldn't be the first time I've been wrong about you."

He turned away without a word and went back to start the campfire. It wasn't long before he had a nice flame going. He then disappeared again into the woods.

Bishop was glad he was getting away from her.

Her comment had angered him. How dare she sit there and act like she wouldn't have done the same thing had she been in his boots.

He shook his head as he scanned the dirt for animal tracks, for anything edible he could kill for their dinner.

No. He knew she wouldn't have done what he'd done; she'd never sacrifice another to save her own life. Jaelyn was much too good for that. She was the type that got sacrificed by people like him. What she saw in him, he would never understand.

It was too late for all of that now, anyway, but for the first time, he actually wondered what might have been, what could have been between them.

Who knew? She might have changed everything. She might have been the one worth changing for...

Bishop paused in his search and shook his head again, trying to ward off those thoughts, but he was arrested by a strange feeling of loss. He grit his teeth and ran both of his hands through his hair. He gripped it and was ready to yank it out in utter frustration. He wanted to scream, as if it would be enough to make everything go away.

After a moment of trying to calm himself down, he stared back at the ground again and continued on.

It wasn't long before he found a pheasant-turkey roaming around, pecking at the ground.

Not wanting to risk losing his knife in the foliage, he snuck up on the fowl and brained it with a rock.

He picked up the carcass and began plucking it as he made his way back to their camp.

When he returned, he was still plucking the bird. Without looking, his feet took him to the campfire where he was about to sit down and start gutting their dinner, but something felt off about the environment. A familiar scent was missing and when he finally looked up, he found that the origin of that scent was now gone.

Bishop stared at the spot by the tree where Jaelyn was supposed to be. The only thing left of her was the rope he had bound her in.

He laughed. He couldn't help it. He was wondering when this was going to happen.

"Oh, you bitch!"

He threw the dead and plucked bird on the ground and bolted into the forest, following her light tracks out.

It wouldn't be hard to catch up to her. She was making no effort to keep her trail concealed due to the fact that she was running for her life. He could follow her tracks well enough in the dark, and when he got his hands on her, she was going to be sorry.

**xxxxxxxxxx**

Jaelyn ran as fast as her feet could carry her over the crowded forest floor. She leapt over bushes, tripped over vines, weaved through the trees and never looked back.

She knew without a doubt that he would pursue her. She only hoped she had gotten away in enough time to have a huge headstart of him. He would have no trouble following her. She actually thought about doubling back and making a seperate trail to confuse him, but that was the oldest trick in the book. Bishop was too good of a ranger to fall for that. Besides, there was a good chance he was already too close for her to double back.

She had no idea what had possessed her to finally free herself and run for it. Perhaps it was simply the instinct to survive. She knew once she stepped foot in the drow stronghold, she was dead. She didn't know how she knew it, she just did. She _felt_ it.

Jaelyn knew it was foolish to run away. She was exhausted from their journey and wouldn't get far. Already, her legs felt too heavy and it took far too much effort than she had to lift them. She was out of breath and her heart was pounding hard.

To make things worse, her conscience was creeping up on her.

_You know what'll happen to him if he doesn't get to the stronghold with you in four days. Will you sacrifice his life to save your own? Is that any better than what he's doing? Is it any different?_

"Shut up!" she growled at that voice.

_It's no different._

"Why should I have to sacrifice myself for him?"

_Because you love him._

"It's not fair!"

_It isn't for him, either. You know you can't let him die._

"He would let me!"

_But you're not him. Could you live with yourself?_

"I don't want to die!"

Jaelyn's feet slowed, her eyes blurred with tears, and she finally stopped, collapsing on her hands and knees. As she labored to catch her breath, her chest burned with more than the lack of oxygen.

Jaelyn released a sob, rolled over onto her back and lay there in the foliage.

She was so tired in every sense of the word. She couldn't go on and he was coming for her, coming to take her back and force her to die for him.

What would he do to her when he found her lying here?

Jaelyn stared up at the clear night sky, at the twinkling stars and blinked away her tears. Even with them no longer obscurring her vision, her sight was still blurry and everything was beginning to grow dim. She was losing consciousness. Her breath had evened out and her mind was going numb. She tried to force herself to stay awake, but her body craved the darkness and she was too weak to resist.

And just as she was pulled into unconsciousness, she heard him calling her name.

**xxxxxxxxxx**

When Jaelyn came to, she found herself laying on her stomach. She was too tired to open her eyes, so she allowed her other senses to attune themselves first.

She felt softness under her hands and on the underside of her face; some kind of cloth. She could feel heat against her cheek and heard the soothing, popping and crackling of a campfire. She also caught a familiar scent, one that had accompanied their campfires since coming to the island. It was the smell of roasting pheasant-turkey thing.

What had Grimnar called it? A...Tornis? Yeah, that was it.

Jaelyn let out a small moan that turned into a yawn and then she finally opened her eyes.

She was laying on a bed roll near the campfire, unbound.

It took a moment, but she finally remembered collapsing in the forest and hearing Bishop call her name just before she lost consciousness.

He must have carried her back to camp. He hadn't tied her up, so she assumed he figured she would be too exhausted to attempt an escape again. He was right.

Jaelyn sat up slowly and saw him sitting across the campfire from her, turning the bird carcass on a makeshift spit.

He glanced at her, the fire enhancing the fierce look he was already giving her.

Jaelyn tensed, fearing in that brief second that he'd leap across the fire and throttle her to death, but he did no such thing.

He looked away without a word.

Jaelyn frowned and scratched at her wrist, only to find that both had been bandaged where the rope had cut into her flesh.

Now she was really confused.

Bishop was undoubtedly angry with her, yet wasn't taking it out on her, and he had bandaged her wrists while she was unconscious. These things were very unlike him.

Jaelyn bit her bottom lip and looked over at him. She wanted to say something, but she was afraid of setting him off. Him being angry and calm at the same time was unsettling. Handling him right now was much like handling those unstable blastglobe things they had found not long ago. One wrong move and you'd find yourself spread in every direction. Then again, if she was his ticket to staying alive, she doubted he'd do anything lethal to her. Of course, she was certain he had ways of making her wish she was dead.

Jaelyn sighed and looked down at her wrists.

Why did he even bother?

When no answers gathered within the gray-walled corridors of her brain, she looked up again and studied him as he continued turning the deceased fowl on its spit.

Gods, he was so damn infuriating!

She just wished he would start making sense.

Jaelyn had already come to a decision during her escape. She wasn't going to let him die, but her death wasn't an option, either. They were going to have to figure out another way, no matter how impossible it seemed.

"Bishop."

He looked over at her with his mask of indifference in place.

"Was it true, what you said about not wanting to do this?"

He only shrugged in reply, returning his gaze to the fire.

"Yes or no?" she demanded, wanting a straight answer from him for once.

He looked at her again. The indifference was gone, replaced a hot glare that could melt metal.

"Yeah...it's true. Satisfied?"

She gave him a faint smile. "I am. I'm also surprised. Look, we need to find a way out of this."

"I already told you, there isn't-"

"There is." she cut him off. "There is _always_ a way out. We just haven't found it yet. I have a feeling something will present itself once we reach the stronghold."

He stared at her and then shook his head in disbelief.

Jaelyn sighed. "Look, they obviously want me for something. Maybe we can use that to our advantage somehow. We're in this together, Bishop, whether you like it or not. If you think they're going to just remove that thing from you and let you go, you're going to be disappointed. Drow don't work that way, and I think you know that."

Bishop said nothing.

He knew she was right. He'd had plenty of time to brood further on the situation while she was unconscious. He highly doubted the drow saw him as anyone significant, someone that might be useful in the future. Thus, once he delivered Jaelyn to them, he was as good as dead unless he could find a way to convince them that he was useful to them; he wouldn't hesitate to join the drow if it kept him alive.

He hoped Jaelyn was right, that some opportunity of escape or some plan would come to light once they reached the stronghold...and if they survived long enough in the drow's grasp.

Bishop stared into the fire a moment and then looked over at her. He reached to his belt for something and tossed it over to her.

"Take it; you need it more than I do."

She looked from him to the object laying near her foot. Her face took on a very surprised expression.

It was his knife, the one she had stolen.

"Bishop..."

"Don't. Just take it, and keep it well hidden. I don't want the drow getting their hands on it."

Jaelyn picked up the knife, looking at it for a moment, still surprised by this uncharacteristic gesture, and then glanced at him with a soft smile.

"Thank you."

She slid the knife inside her boot for the time being. Later, she would construct a makeshift sheath for it and strap it to the inside of her thigh, where, hopefully, no drow would find it.

Sometime later, when the pheasant-turkey thing was done, Jaelyn moved to sit near him, and they ate in silence, sharing his canteen of water. Of course, Jaelyn didn't keep the silence between them for long. There were still some things she didn't understand.

"How did you get that spider thing, anyway?" she asked.

Bishop frowned. "The drow."

She narrowed her eyes at his response. "I know that. _How_?"

"Does it really matter?"

"If it didn't, I wouldn't bother asking."

He sighed and gave in. He didn't want to discuss it, but he knew she wouldn't shut up about it until he told her.

"It started with that crystal thing we found with that female drow." he began. "Saw it glowing in my pack and decided to check it out. Godsforsaken thing zapped me a few times. Then I heard his voice...in my head..."

"Whose voice?"

He gave her a hard smile. "Your father's."

Jaelyn frowned. "I don't understand..."

He shrugged. "Seems he knows how to control whatever magic that thing has. He told me I had to bring it to one of his followers, and when I refused, he zapped me with it again and kept on until I was unconscious. After that, my mind was made up. I wasn't looking forward to being zapped to death by that thing, so I took it to the drow that was sent to retrieve it. Should've seen it at the time; it wasn't just about that crystal orb. It was a trick to lure me out there and force me to bring you to them."

"But why you?"

He shrugged again. "Guess they figured I'd have no trouble doing it. They weren't wrong."

Jaelyn frowned and looked away. "Why didn't you say something about the orb? We might have found another way that didn't lead to this."

"I didn't say anything for the same reason I didn't say anything about the spider. It wouldn't have made a difference. I had a good feeling every move I made was being watched through that thing. It's magic, and magic is unpredictable. I wasn't taking any chances."

She said nothing and he took her silence as either her not believing him or wanting some other explanation.

"It's not like I wanted to hand it over. That would've been unwise. They now have even more power on their side."

"It's really hard to tell what you want, Bishop, and even harder to tell what your true intentions are."

"Well, that's too bad, isn't it? I'm not changing for you...or anyone else."

"Are you sure that's not what you really want, deep down?"

"If I wanted a change, I'd make it, drow."

"You have, you just don't want to acknowledge it." she pointed out. "I really feel sorry for you; you must be so exhausted from lying to yourself all the time."

He glared at her. "Shut your mouth! You don't know anything."

Jaelyn gave him a cool smile, and without a word, she got up and returned to her bed roll to get some sleep. She didn't need to say anything; she knew by his reaction that her words had gotten through. She only hoped he would be smart enough accept them.


	37. Chapter 37: Dresmor

**xxxxxx**

* * *

**Chapter Thirty-Seven:**

**Dresmor**

**xxxxxx**

**"I** don't like this."

Quin nodded in agreement with the ghost as he stroked the vibrating cat-bear curled up on his lap.

"Neither do I. Jaelyn would never leave for this long without telling me...or at least someone. If it was just her and Bishop, I wouldn't be worried. But with Akereth being gone, too..."

"I wouldn't trust her being gone this long with that ranger, either." Gulaonar said. "Something has happened..."

The halfling sighed. "Oh, please, don't think like that. We have enough problems. Maybe Jaelyn and Bishop just went out to...you know, be 'alone' and Akereth went to interfere. They're probably on their way back now."

Gulaonar shook his head. "It should not have taken this long, then."

"Well, with the way Bishop and Akereth are always going at it, I'm sure Jaelyn is probably having trouble keeping them from killing each other."

"No, this doesn't feel right."

Quin sighed. "Well, I guess one of us could go search for them."

"I don't like that idea, but it seems we don't have a choice. We need to know what's happened to them. It will have to be you, Quin. No doubt you can handle a few drow on your own, but should they bring an army to the village-"

Quin held up his hand and shook his head. "No, I get it. All right, I'll go and I'll take Feral with me. He could probably pick up Jaelyn's scent and follow it."

The ghost nodded. "Good idea."

Quin picked up the cat-bear and sat him on the floor as he stood from his bed. Feral gave him a look that said _Hey, I was trying to sleep, you know_.

Quin pat him on the head and looked up at Gulaonar. "I'll head out now."

"Be careful, Quin."

The halfling grinned. "Will do!"

Quin began gathering only the essentials for his task: his weapons and his pack, containing only his bed roll, a few healing potions, his canteen, and a set of flint and steel.

As the ghost faded out of his hut, Quin threw some fruit into his pack just in case. He then strapped on his rapier, pulled the strap of his pack over his head, and made for the door.

He paused at the threshold and looked back to see Feral still sitting there on the floor, staring at him with his head cocked to one side.

"Come on. I'm going to go look for Jaelyn. Don't you want to help?"

Feral's ears perked up and he bounded over to the halfling's side.

Together, they left the hut and found their way into the northern forest, taking the light trail that led deep into the wood.

Feral sniffed along the path, stopping every once in a while to look around.

"Can you pick up her scent, boy?"

Feral looked up at Quin for a moment as if absorbing what the halfling had said, then he went back to sniffing at the ground, moving ahead of Quin on the path.

The scent soon led them away from the trail and Quin found himself looking at a tiny clearing with a small pond.

As he surveyed the scene, Feral sniffed along the bank. He found one place of particular interest, but only for a moment before he let out a menacing growl and darted off into the woods.

Quin started after him, barely able to keep up. "Hey, wait!"

Feral followed the scent for miles and miles without pause. By the time the cat-bear had finally stopped to relieve himself on a tree(one that groaned in protest), Quin nearly keeled over.

He flopped onto the ground, breathing heavily and brought out his canteen. He took a few slow drinks from it, recapped it and wiped the sweat off his forehead.

Quin lay back in the grass and stared up at the sky. It was smothered in dark gray clouds that promised rain.

The halfling looked forward to it. Since the barrier was gone now, he guessed the plant life would be looking forward to it as well.

Quin remembered well when the barrier finally fell-or dissolved, or whatever it had done. The entire island had shook, the village huts swayed on their supports, and the natives all paused in their daily rituals to stare up at the sky. They all then gathered at the village center; even Olland had come out to join them. They stood in a large circle, clasping the hands of the ones beside them and bowed their heads. Some old man garbed in intricate robes stood in the middle of the circle, chanting, and the natives voices rose behind his. Gulaonar had said it was just a short ceremony they performed at the end of the island's journey.

Quin was brought out of his thoughts by a tug on his cloak.

He sat up to see Feral pulling the fabric impatiently. He let out a whine. It was obvious he wanted to get moving.

"All right, all right. Let's go."

The halfling pulled himself to his feet and the two set out again, Feral leading.

Some time later, they reached a small area surrounded by boulders. There were some tracks in the dirt and Quin could easily tell that they belonged to Akereth, and it looked like he had been involved in some kind of struggle by the way his prints began to drag a bit in the dirt toward the forest. He was about to go investigate this, when Feral let out a high-pitched whine.

The animal was sitting near the boulders.

Quin hurried over to have a look. There was blood towards the bottom of one of the boulders and a small stain on the ground. He wasn't sure whose blood it was or what had caused the person to bleed. He looked down at Feral.

"Jaelyn's?"

The cat-bear whined and backed away from the spot. Quin caught the odd expression of concern on the animal's furry face.

"Right. Well, there isn't much, so she's probably okay. Maybe she stubbed a toe or something."

Quin turned around as Feral sniffed the tracks in the ground and followed whatever scent he got from them into the forest.

It didn't take them long to find him.

"Gods."

The skin of Akereth's corpse was pale gray and it gave off a faint odor of decay. Quin guessed he'd been dead for a while, his throat having been slashed. The blood on his hide clothes and skin had dried, but the puddle on the ground under him and the blood inside the wound was still damp.

Quin had no doubt who had done this; it had Bishop written all over it.

Feral let off a few whines and nudged the body a couple of times as if trying to wake someone that was asleep.

The halfling pushed him with his boot to get him to stop.

"Come on, let's go. There's nothing we can do here."

As the two headed back the way they had come, Quin couldn't help but wonder if Jaelyn was truly okay or not. He knew she would never let Bishop murder the native. For Akereth to be dead, she must not have been able to prevent it, which meant she must have been incapacitated or something of the sort at the time. And there was no way in the hells she would have stayed with him after that.

Quin's eyes widened as the metaphorical light bulb in his brain was dusted off and switched on.

She was his prisoner now. Nothing else made sense. Bishop was probably keeping her prisoner until he could figure out what to do with her. After all, she was a witness to Akereth's murder.

The question was: where was he taking her?

**xxxxxxxxxx**

The horror of the nightmare pushed him back to consciousness.

He awoke with a start, sitting up and breathing heavily while he tried to get a hold on reality.

His surroundings slowly faded from his burning village to the deceptively serene, dark forest of the island, but he could still smell the burning homes, the seared flesh; he could still hear the agonized screams of the dying and the horrified ones of the remaining villagers just realizing their fate; he could still see her face, the confusion and pain in her eyes, the blood that seeped from her mouth after he planted his sword in her chest.

It had been Jaelyn.

_Just a dream._

That it was and it didn't make any sense(not that dreams ever did), but the images of what he did still gave him a nasty jolt and churned his stomach.

Bishop sat there for a long moment, head in his hands as he tried to calm his racing heart and twisted gut, and keep his mind clear of those graphic, unpleasant dream images.

If he didn't know it before, this dream and his reaction to it made things crystal clear to him now. He couldn't just ignore it or pass it off as something else anymore, not with both of their lives on the line. He cared for Jaelyn, too much for his own good. He didn't want her to die, and certainly not for him.

He might be able to stop it, if he had the courage to.

He rose his head to the sky, wondering what time it was. Dread filled him.

Dawn was breaching night. Time refused to slow down for them, to give them a moment to think of something, anything other than the failed plan they were currently working with.

He got up, crossed the camp, and knelt next to Jaelyn.

She was sleeping peacefully, a hand tucked under her cheek, her white hair spilling down her side and across her arm.

He resisted the urge to touch it and shook her awake.

Jaelyn blinked a few times with a tired moan and then sat up, rubbing her eyes.

"Time to get moving." he said as he stood away from her.

He made his way toward the path they had been on before, but paused and looked back at her over his shoulder.

She was rolling up his small, thin mat that he had allowed her to sleep on.

"Leave it." he called to her. "We're not going to need it anymore."

Jaelyn looked up at his grim words and only nodded as she got to her feet and made her way over to him.

They looked at each other for a moment, both seeming as if they wanted to say something, but no words were exchanged.

Bishop turned away.

"Should make it there by midday. Let's go."

And he was right, of course.

They had traveled in complete silence toward their destination, and close to noon time, they could make out some of the stone temple between the trees and a tall, white stone tower could be seen above them.

Jaelyn stared at it as they grew closer and closer to what would likely be their end, but she was no longer afraid. She couldn't allow herself to be afraid. She needed a clear mind to find a way out of this.

She returned her gaze to the path before her and realized that she was now walking ahead of Bishop.

When she stopped and turned around, he was standing a few feet behind her, staring around with a strange look on his face.

"What is it?" she spoke for the first time since they'd left camp.

He glanced at her, avoided her eyes, and decided it was better if he just looked elsewhere.

"...Don't know."

"Well, let's go. We're almost there."

She turned to keep walking.

"Wait."

Jaelyn faced him again, her face holding an impatient expression.

"What?"

He frowned hard at her. It was an expression of both anger and frustration, one that he used quite a lot around her.

"Why are you doing this?"

"Doing what?"

"This!" he shouted at her. "Throwing your life away!"

Jaelyn sighed. "I thought we already went through this. I don't have a choice."

"No," he said and stepped over to her until he was but a foot away. "You do have a choice. You could run like you did before...right now."

"What?"

"Run away, Jaelyn."

She frowned. "No."

Just as she was about to turn away again, he grabbed her and jerked her around to face him. "This is your only chance. I'm giving you a choice. I won't come after you if you run now."

She shook her head. "I am done running."

"Damn it, Jaelyn, I said run!" he yelled angrily as he propelled her away.

She caught herself against a tree and stared at him in surprise. "What're you doing? Are you insane?"

He gave her a mean, intimidating look. "Run or I'll _make_ you run."

Jaelyn stood her ground, giving him that defiant look he both adored and hated.

"No!"

He growled through clenched teeth and came after her.

Jaelyn dodged his grabbing hands, spun around him and shoved him in the back.

"We're wasting time with this nonsense!" she said, angrily. "No matter what you do, I'm not leaving you."

He faced her. "Is that so? You know what they're going to do to you in there? They're going to torture and rape you until they break you. Then you might be lucky if they kill you after that. That's the only reason why they want you."

It was a lie, of course. He knew as much as she did about their reasons for wanting her. The problem was she was aware that he knew.

Jaelyn also knew what he was trying to do, and as much as she was touched by it, she wasn't going to let him win this one. They were in it together.

"You don't know why they want me. Besides, what do you think they're going to do to _you_?"

He shrugged. "I can talk them into thinking I'm useful to them. They'll keep me alive."

"Come on, Bishop, you're not stupid enough to believe that. Aren't you the one that's always saying the drow aren't going to talk?"

"It's the only option I've got. Now, you can either be stupid and go in there, or you can run away."

"It's not the only option you've got. You can take me to them as planned."

"No. That's _not_ an option."

"It was before. What's changed? Nothing."

_Everything._

He shook his head. "Look, if you run back to the village, you can prepare those idiot natives to march on the stronghold. What do you think's going to happen with both of us not around to show them what to do? And if the drow decide to attack first, they won't last a second. Is that what you want?"

"They have Gulaonar. They'll be fine. You going in there without me isn't an option, either, Bishop. They're not going to give you time to try to talk them into believing you're useful if you go there without me. They'll kill you. Is that what you want?"

"Enough of this! You're going to listen to me this time, whether you like it or not. Now start running!" he shouted at her in a tone she'd never heard before. It was a harsh command, but there was desperation behind it.

"You want me to run? Fine."

With that, Jaelyn spun and set out in a sprint, heading straight for the temple.

Bishop stood there for a moment in surprise. Then he grit his teeth and growled angrily.

"Get back here!"

He chased her through the forest, weaving around trees, leaping over enormous ferns and moss-covered logs. She was fast, but he was gaining on her.

He wanted to shout at her, but decided against it. He needed the oxygen. However, when he got his hands on her, he was going to throttle her to death.

He pushed himself to run faster and the moment he did, she risked a glance over her shoulder. He saw a smirk flash across her face before she faced forward again.

The edge of the forest and the temple were in view now. Jaelyn finally slowed to a stop and leaned back against a tree to catch her breath as Bishop finally caught up to her.

He bent over a bit, hands on his knees to catch his own breath so he could yell at her.

"You crazy bitch!"

Jaelyn looked at him, a soft smile on her face.

"You're the one that told me to stop running."

"I wanted you to know the difference-what to run from and what not to."

"I know the difference." she said, facing him fully. "I know what I'm not running from. I'm not running from them and I'm not running from you."

"And that's exactly what you should be running away from."

Jaelyn shook her head and pushed herself away from the tree. She stepped forward in full view of the temple.

Two towering, ivy-covered stone columns and an arch created a portal to the temple steps. The main building was long, stretching toward the stone tower, just breaking off before it reached it. From her angle, Jaelyn couldn't tell what separated the tower from the main building but guessed it to be a small courtyard or maybe a short path. The stone of both temple and tower was sun-bleached and looked ancient. A wall of dark green ivy crawled up the sides of the temple. Most of what had reached above the forest shade had been burned from the harsh sun. Strange, unreadable markings adorned the archway, were etched into the temple walls on either side of the main entrance and spiraled up the tower.

A handful of drow were patrolling the temple grounds and a few were standing guard at the entrance.

Jaelyn noticed an oddity(other than the temple and the drow). There were staffs, topped with small, blue-glowing orbs, stuck in the ground. There were a lot of them, set up all along the temple's perimeter. She supposed these were the things keeping Gulaonar out.

She wished she had her bow. She would've liked to test the strength of those orbs.

Jaelyn heard an irritated sigh from beside her.

She turned her head and looked at Bishop.

"I would've had to face him, eventually. We all would have." she assured him.

He frowned. "Yeah. Would've been nice to be ready for it first, though. This is suicide. Should've just let the poison kill me."

Jaelyn nudged him gently with her elbow. "Don't talk like that. We have a chance. No matter how small it is, it's still a chance."

He shook his head. "Sorry, drow, but that hopeful, optimistic, leader talk doesn't work on me. I'm a pessimist."

"I've noticed." she remarked and sighed. "It's not _just_ hope. It's fact. We have a chance. Listen, if I find a way to get you out, or if you find it on your own, you have to destroy those staffs with the orbs on them. They're what's keeping Gulaonar out."

"How do you know that?"

"I just do. Why else would they have them set up around the temple like that? Besides, Gulaonar said there were some kind of devices keeping him out. It must be them." She nudged his arm. "Come on, let's get this over with."

He watched her walk casually out toward the archway, her back straight and her head held high. She wasn't afraid, or if she was, she was doing a hells of a good job hiding it. He remembered how afraid she had been when they had been captured before. That Jaelyn was no where to be seen. To whatever end, she was intent on seeing it through. He had no idea whether to hate her or love her for it. He partially blamed himself. After all, he'd pushed her to this point of fearlessness.

When he joined her at the archway, Jaelyn looked at him, a smile on her face. She stared at him for a long moment, at his face and in his eyes as if she were trying to commit every detail to her memory. Then she caught his hand and squeezed it gently. He didn't pull away.

"Anything could happen in there, so there's something you should know, something I want to say while I still have the chance to say it."

He knew what she wanted to say; he could _feel_ it.

"Save it." he snapped at her and tried pulling his hand back.

She held on tight.

"I'd rather say it now then say it with my dying breath later, if it comes to that."

"And I'd rather not hear it at all. You may think you mean those words, but that's not what it is."

"I know what it is. You just don't want it to be real."

"Yeah? There's a lot you don't know about me, drow. You can't say anything, you can't _mean_ it until you know everything there is to know, and that's not happening. So save your words, tell them to someone who will give you everything and not just what they want you to have."

Jaelyn dropped his hand, stricken by his words.

He turned his back to her and passed through the archway.

With an aching heart and tears threatening her eyes, Jaelyn moved to join him.

She got about halfway to him before someone snatched her from behind and held a knife to her throat. She let out a yelp of surprise which grabbed Bishop's attention.

He spun, drawing his sword in the same move.

There were three of them. One drow held Jaelyn to him, a knife threatening her throat and the other two, one armed with a crossbow and the other with dual swords, flanked their leader.(anyone standing between two others was always the leader)

"Drop your weapon." the leader commanded, pressing his knife a little deeper into Jaelyn's throat as a warning.

Bishop bent to relinquish his sword all the while his other hand sneaked its way to his belt. As he straightened, there was a small, sly smirk on his face.

Jaelyn had no idea what he was up to until he flung his arm out.

The move was too fast for any of them to react quick enough. The crossbowman fell dead, a dagger sticking out of his forehead.

The drow with the twin swords wasted no time and leaped toward the threat. His swords came after Bishop in an intricate whirl. The ranger dodged back from one move and ducked low to the ground on the other, grabbing his sword up in the process.

He swung it low and hard and was rewarded with the sweet sound of an agonized cry. When he straightened up, he saw the drow writhing on the ground, screaming in pain. His left leg had been severed at the calf.

He could've easily put the drow out of his misery, but Bishop decided to let him suffer while he dealt with this other.

The drow holding onto Jaelyn gave a brief laugh.

"That was a mistake." he said, his words directed at Bishop. "You'll suffer for their deaths."

While he talked, Jaelyn was reaching a hand inside the front of her trousers, feeling along the inside of her leg.

"You waste your time." the drow went on. "You're out numbered and out armed. You don't stand a chance."

Jaelyn had the dagger out now, holding it by the hilt against her stomach.

Bishop took a threatening step forward to keep the drow's attention focused on him, to give Jaelyn a chance to use that knife.

The drow pressed his blade into Jaelyn's neck, drawing blood. Bishop's hand tightened around the grip of his sword. The drow grinned and spoke into Jaelyn's ear.

"Seems your friend here has little concern for your well-being."

"He doesn't have to be concerned. I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself." she retorted.

"Oh? I can te-" the drow's words shifted to a pained cry as Jaelyn stabbed the dagger into his leg.

He let her go out of reflex and Jaelyn pulled the dagger out, giving it a cruel twist as she did. She spun to face him and backed away.

The male drow gave a nasty laugh as he pressed his hand to his wounded leg.

"I stand corrected."

"You won't be standing for long." Bishop growled at him.

The drow grinned again as his gaze moved to a place beyond his two adversaries. "As it seems, neither will you."

The ranger didn't move, having played that same trick on many an enemy, but Jaelyn took the risk and glanced behind her.

It wasn't a trick.

"Uh, Bishop...we have company."

He didn't want to know what was behind him, but he turned nevertheless and found that they were surrounded by a troop of drow, most of them armed with crossbows, lead by a severe, grim looking drow. He was garbed more authoritatively than the others and there was a large, well-made sword in his hand. The blade gave off a sinister, purple glow. He wondered if this was Dresmor.

Bishop gave a quick glance back over his shoulder to see the drow Jaelyn had wounded smiling with grim satisfaction, then his gaze shifted to the forest beyond him. Though that way was clear, he knew there was no use in trying to escape. They would be filled with bolts in a heartbeat. Even if they used that wounded dark elf as a shield, there was a good chance one of them wouldn't make it. He wasn't taking that chance.

The drows' grim leader approached the two rangers. He seemed to glide toward them, his movements fluid and graceful, and yet power permeated from him; a dark, nameless power.

The drow's white hair was pulled away from his face and flowed down his back. It carried a shimmer of silver. He had the almond-shaped eyes, pointed ears, and slanted brows of his elvish heritage, but the cruel, thin mouth, the scar that cut across his left eye, and his muscular frame cut out that image of elven elegance. His eyes were a pale yellow and penetrating. They, along with his face held no emotion whatsoever.

And yet Bishop could clearly see the resemblance between this drow and Jaelyn, especially around the eyes and nose.

The drow stopped before them. His unyielding gaze lingered on Jaelyn for several intense moments, and it was impossible to tell what he was thinking. Those bright yellow eyes flicked over her shoulder to the wounded drow standing behind them. They hardened unpleasantly.

"You have failed to complete a simple task." he spoke in a monotone voice. It seemed he wasn't surprised by the failure.

The wounded drow's mouth dropped open as if to say something but no words came forth. If either ranger had bothered to look at him, they would've seen a frown on his face and deep fear in his eyes. It seemed to take a great effort to keep himself from running away, screaming. It probably would have been best if he had.

Dresmor stepped between Jaelyn and Bishop, unconcerned with them for the moment as he approached his useless minion.

Jaelyn caught movement out of the corner of her eye and turned her head to find Bishop glaring daggers into Dresmor's back, his hand gripping his weapon so tight his knuckles went white. He looked ready to pounce on Dresmor at any time. Jaelyn grabbed his arm and shook her head when he spared her a glance. His expression told her that this was the opening they needed; it would be so easy to end the bastard's life right now with his back turned to them. Hers told him they would both be dead the moment he rose his sword.

Bishop muttered a curse, knowing she was right and hating that they had to pass up this opportunity. He knew it was probably the only one they were going to get.

At his leader's approach, the wounded drow blanched(as much as any drow could blanch) and swallowed hard.

"I'm sorry, my Lord Dresmor. This won't happen again."

Dresmor stood there for a moment, staring at him, and then slowly his mouth lifted into a smile. "No, it will not. I trust you have learned from this. Go join the others."

The drow bowed quickly, relief flooding his face. "Thank you, my lord."

He moved to join the rest of the drow, but only got a few steps before Dresmor grabbed a handful of his hair and forced him on his knees.

Jaelyn saw the horrified realization on the drow's face just before Dresmor's blade cut into the back of his neck and severed his head from his body. She looked away before she could witness the entire gory display, but that couldn't keep out the feel of the drow's warm blood splattering her face.

She shuddered and felt sick to her stomach. She nearly lost all control in that moment. It was the feel of a warm, strong hand grasping hers that kept her from doing so. Bishop didn't look at her and he didn't speak; there was no need for either. The simple gesture said everything.

Dresmor stepped over the corpse and stood before his men. He lifted the severed head up high by its hair to show them what failure would get them. The gathered drow stared fearfully at it.

"I will _not_ tolerate failure!" he boomed and then tossed the bloody head away where it landed on the ground with a sickening, moist sound.

Dresmor moved to enter the temple, issuing one final command before disappearing beyond the large stone doors.

"Bring them!"

There was no hesitation.

Four drow separated from the pack and drew their swords. Both rangers were stripped of their weapons and forced toward the temple doors.

Bishop's hand never let go of Jaelyn's.


	38. Chapter 38: The Drow's Plan

**xxxxxx**

* * *

**Chapter Thirty-Eight:**

**The Drow's Plan**

**xxxxxx**

**Jaelyn's** scent was leading them on a true path for the drow stronghold, Quin was sure of this now by the fact that he could see the temple's stone tower above the trees.

The halfling had spent the previous night at a campsite that had obviously been abandoned by his companions. A solitary bed roll had been left behind, half rolled up, with Jaelyn's scent on it. The fact that they hadn't taken down camp left the halfling unsettled. Neither ranger ever left anything of themselves behind and they never traveled without the necessary equipment, so this was unusual. It was almost as if it didn't matter, or perhaps they had left in a hurry.

He didn't like any of this. He couldn't figure out why Bishop would take Jaelyn to the drow stronghold. It didn't make sense. Even if he was just getting rid of a witness, Bishop was perfectly capable of eliminating her on his own. If there was a chance the ranger actually cared about Jaelyn, Quin doubted Bishop would let that get in the way if she proved to be a threat to his survival. And then again, Bishop wasn't very predictable. There was no telling what he might do or what his reasons might be for doing it.

Thinking about it, trying to guess what might be going on was only proving to make Quin more frustrated and worried. Whatever the situation, there was only one clear fact that mattered: his friend was in trouble and he and Feral were her only hope.

Feral was impatient for them to get moving. He was sitting near a tree around the camp, staring fiercely in the direction of the stronghold.

With his things finally packed, Quin approached the cat-bear and knelt down to him.

"Now, listen," he said, as he gave the creature a gentle scruff on the neck. "You can't just run in there and attack, all right? We can't be seen or we'll never get in the stronghold alive. She's counting on us."

The cat-bear stared back at the halfling, his head turned a bit to one side. This pose was the cat-bear's 'I'm listening' pose, Quin knew, but it wasn't necessarily an 'I understand what is expected of me' pose, as most would think. If the cat-bear understood and would refrain from attacking, Quin couldn't tell. All he could do was hope.

The halfling stood and lifted his head toward the sky. It was as dark and ominous as it was yesterday, if not more so; it looked as if there would be a downpour any minute. Quin was no child of nature; it was impossible for him to tell what time of day it was without the presence of the sun, but the halfling guessed it to be late in the morning.

He started off in the direction of the stone tower looming above the trees, Feral bounding along after him.

They traveled quick and encountered no obstacles on their journey. Within an hour of their departure from the camp, however, the wind had picked up, carrying with it the scent of the ocean. Some time after that, there was a brilliant, purple flash of light across the sky, and then a boom of thunder followed.

The halfling picked up his pace and soon he came to the large clearing where the temple was.

Quin ducked down behind a tree just on the border of the clearing, trying to keep himself as camoflauged as possible. He peered around the temple, noted the handful of drow patrolling the perimeter as Feral hunkered down next to the halfling, his ears flat against his skull.

Quin also noted the drow guarding the doors to the temple.

The place was well protected as they all had known it would be. Quin had no idea how to go about getting inside without being seen.

Getting himself captured was out of the question. There was a good chance the drow would kill him on the spot. He needed to create a distraction, one big enough to draw all their attention, or at least the ones that were near and at the front doors.

He looked down at the cat-bear and smiled faintly.

The creature would be a big enough distraction. With his unusual speed, Feral stood a good chance of surviving and Quin knew without a doubt that the cat-bear would do anything for Jaelyn. The problem was getting him to understand what Quin wanted him to do.

The sound of the temple grinding open pulled the halfling's attention away.

Quin lowered himself to the ground, hiding further under the large ferns he was using for cover. He laid a hand on Feral to keep him still as he peered through the foliage.

A large troop of drow marched out of the temple and down the steps. They were all dressed and armed for war. Quin also saw that every last one of them were wearing some kind of blue-glowing pendants around their necks.

The troop headed out into the forest, hardly making a sound as they passed and disappeared beyond the trees.

When he was sure they were gone, Quin sat up and ran a hand through his hair, a deep frown on his face.

This was bad, really bad. The drow were undoubtedly marching on the village and there was nothing Quin could do to warn the natives. Even if he ran back to the village(which would be impossible without succumbing to exhaustion), he wouldn't make it in time. The natives' lives were now in the hands of Gulaonar and themselves. Quin hoped they had learned something from all their training; their final test was approaching.

There was strong doubt in the halfling's heart. Even with Gulaonar on their side, the natives' chance of success was low. They had never undergone any battle training exercises and hadn't even formed a plan yet for if the drow attacked. They knew how to use their weapons, but that was it. The drow knew so much more, and with no warning for the natives, this put their chances of survival down even further.

Quin shook his head. He couldn't think like this. It was time to act. He had to hurry and free his companions. The natives might have a chance if he could get them out.

The halfling picked up Feral and lifted him until they were eye to eye. Slowly, he began explaining what he needed the cat-bear to do. Feral listened, intently.

**xxxxxxxxxx**

Dresmor stood in the drab, cold cell, looking over his captives where they were chained against the wall.

He was particularly interested in the female drow. She had eyes that were hauntingly familiar and he wanted to know why. He also wanted to know how and why she was here.

He stepped toward her, but she refused to look at him, her face tilted down. Her white hair made a veil over her face, hiding it from his view.

Dresmor reached out, taking her chin in his hand and jerked her head up. Her pale green eyes, filled with fire, fell on his. The expression in those eyes, that fire, deepened that feeling of familiarity in him, so much that it nearly startled him, but he'd learned over many years how to control his emotions and as soon as the feeling was there, it was gone, buried effortlessly in the darkness of his soul. But Jaelyn hadn't missed how he looked at her, how he studied her.

"How did you come to be here?" he demanded.

Jaelyn attemped to free her face from his hand, but his fingers dug painfully into her jaw. Out of her mouth came one of the vulgar phrases she had picked up from Bishop.

"Fuck you. I'm not telling you anything."

Dresmor stared at her for a moment and then let go of her chin.

A smack echoed in the cell, followed by Jaelyn's pained gasp. Blood ran down her chin from her now split lip. Her ears were ringing from the blow and she hardly registered the violent rattling of chains to her left.

Dresmor spared a glance at the ranger to find him glaring in his direction with an enraged expression. Bishop fervently attempted to free himself from his shackles. It was all in vain and only caused the metal to dig into his wrist, drawing blood. Bishop hardly felt the pain over his own anger.

Dresmor smiled and laughed. "Ah, I see. Spare yourself the trouble, human. It is a useless and dooming emotion you feel for her."

Bishop scoffed. "If you think you can get at me by using her, you're wrong."

Dresmor grinned. "Oh, indeed. One slap to her pretty face and you're ready to rip out your own limbs just to get at me."

He grabbed Jaelyn under the chin again and turned her face toward Bishop. She avoided the ranger's gaze and her hands were clenched into tight fists. Bishop clearly saw what she was attempting to hide from him: her fear.

Dresmor pressed his thumb and nail into her split lip, causing a wave of pain to course through her entire face. He dug deeper until she couldn't stifle a moan, her brows drawn together in an expression of pain. She tried to draw her face away again in vain.

It all succeeded in doing what Dresmor had wanted it to do. It fed the fire already raging within Bishop. Fed a little more and that anger mingled with the deeper feeling of helplessness would unhinge him if he couldn't control it. All of it also proved Dresmor's point.

Dresmor laughed. "She has already made you weak. It is what the female does. No matter how pretty and gentle they are, they strive only to weaken their males and they have the power to do so."

He waited for the ranger's reply and got none, so he turned his attention back to Jaelyn.

"Let's start with an easier question, then. Your name."

"Go to the hells."

"Stubborn one." Dresmor noted. "We shall do this another way, then."

He motioned for one of the drow standing outside the cell to enter. The drow strode across the cell and stood before Bishop, smirking up at him while he drew a curved dagger from his belt. When Dresmor nodded at him, the drow sliced open the ranger's leather armor, exposing the poison-filled contraption still embedded in his chest.

"Do not test my patience." Dresmor cautioned Jaelyn. "Should you still refuse to answer my questions, I will instruct him to end your friend's life. It will take little more than the press of a button, this I'm sure you're aware of."

Jaelyn rose her head to look at him, an overwhelming turmoil of emotions causing havoc inside her.

"Your name." Dresmor demanded once again.

Jaelyn lowered her head. "Jaelyn. Jaelyn Sharpshadow. I'm your daughter."

Her words had an effect on Dresmor that none of them expected.

He took a step back, his brows drawn together in slight confusion. He folded his arms across his chest as that confusion, too, was buried deep as soon as it had been birthed.

"What game are you playing at, girl? I have no children."

Jaelyn looked at him, met his gaze. "And yet you see something in me, something familiar that you can't place." she said, seeing her chance to destablize his calm. "You haven't truly forgotten her. You may have tried to bury her and what she did to you, but she's still there. She made you what you are now."

Dresmor glared at her and showed his first true emotion: anger. And to the surprise of everyone there, he said nothing.

"You know of whom I speak." Jaelyn went on. "The wood elf you came upon in the wilds when you left the Underdark, the one you fell in love with. Nanethiel Sharpshadow."

Dresmor's face contorted with rage. His hand shot out and wrapped around Jaelyn's throat, tightening upon it until she couldn't breathe.

"How do you know that name?" he shouted into her face.

Jaelyn made a choking sound as she tried to draw breath.

"You...raped her." she was able to get out in a strangled voice. "I...was the...product."

Dresmor released her and backed away. Jaelyn caught the horror on his face as she gasped for air, but it lasted for only a moment before being replaced by that look of anger.

That bitch surface elf had ruined him and she had never paid for what she had done. Now part of her was here in this drow. He would get his revenge at last by exacting it on Jaelyn.

Dresmor turned to the other drow. "Take the human down. Torture him to his last breath."

He faced Jaelyn once again, staring straight into her widening eyes. "I want her to hear him scream before he dies."

Her heart stopped cold in her chest. What had she done?

"No!" Jaelyn cried in horror as she jerked against her chains. "Wait! Don't do this! Please!"

Dresmor paused at the cell door and looked back over his shoulder at her. She held his gaze, pleading with him.

"I'll do anything." she went on, desperately. "_Anything_. Just don't hurt him, don't kill him. Please. If you want me to pay for her crimes, then torture _me_, kill _me_! He's innocent."

Bishop could hardly believe what he was hearing. He never saw this coming; he had never thought someone would be foolish enough to actually give their life for him, and now that it was happening, he had no idea what to think. It moved him in a way he couldn't explain, but it also angered him to the core. He knew she had more sense than this, so why was she being so foolish?

It hit him with the force of lightning.

Those words she had been trying to speak before they were captured, those words he wouldn't let her speak, no matter how idiotic he had thought it would be for her to say them, he saw now that she would've meant them, she would've understood what they meant. They wouldn't have been just words.

She had been right, too. He simply didn't want it to be real, because he knew it would change everything and it would eventually come to this, one of them dying for the other. No matter how hard he tried to prevent it from happening, there were just some things you couldn't fight and control.

Damn all of it.

Standing at the cell door still, Dresmor was numb to Jaelyn's pleas. "Oh, I plan to have you tortured and killed, as soon as you've outlived your purpose."

He shifted his gaze to the other drow. "Leave his corpse at her feet."

With a final smirk in Jaelyn's direction, he left the cell and departed the chamber.

Jaelyn could not describe the horror she felt the moment Gulaonar had told her that Dresmor was her father. The horror was made even more indescribable by seeing and hearing him now. Though she'd heard plenty of what he was capable of, she had a foolish hope that what she heard wasn't possible, or perhaps there would be some reason for it or maybe he could be saved from himself, but it seemed the drow he once was, the one who had left the Underdark with hope was completely gone. There was not so much as a spark of goodness left in him.

She heard Gulaonar's words ringing inside her head.

_The only way to stop him is to deliver his death._

She saw that now, more clearly than anything else. She could not save her father, for he was already dead. And she mourned for him, not for the drow that had stood before her moments ago, but for the one he had once been.

The drow in the cell with them gestured to his comrade outside to help him. When he entered, Jaelyn began fighting against her chains once again, a fierce, determined look on her face. The metal cuffs cut into her wrists, but she didn't care.

"Save your strength." Bishop said to her. "You aren't going to free yourself."

She wasn't listening. She continued to yank and pull her arms and legs.

Meanwhile, one drow went to the far right wall where Bishop's chains were secured to keep him pulled up against the wall and off the floor. When the drow released the lock on them, the ranger dropped to the floor and immediately went into attack mode.

He was only able to get to his knees before a foot slammed into his side and pinned him to the stone floor. He felt his legs being unchained from the floor and although they were still shackled, that didn't stop him from trying to kick the closest drow. The other saw what he meant to do and put a stop to it. His ribs were met with another boot and a fist smashed into his face.

"Get your damn hands off of him, you bastards!" Jaelyn cried angrily as she continued to attempt the impossible and break her chains.

When the two drow finally got Bishop to his feet, he was breathing heavily from the exersion of trying to escape. There was a small cut on his cheek from where he had been hit.

He met her gaze. His intense stare made her pause in her attempt to free herself.

"Don't let them win." he said, firmly. "No matter what they do to me, don't let it get to you, don't let it affect you. Don't give them what they want. You hear me?"

A drow shoved him to get him moving. He tried to shove back, but they both had a piece of him, making it almost impossible for him to move against them.

"Bishop." She was on the verge of sobbing.

"Don't."

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry I got you into this!"

"Don't be." he replied, a hint of irritation in his voice.

He was forced over to a rack. He had endured rack torture before, but he'd also gone through much worse. Although he didn't have fond memories of the experience, it was still small time. Drow were masters of torture; Bishop knew this was only the beginning of what they planned to do to him.

Jaelyn said his name once more. He met her gaze again through the bars of her cell. She smiled at him. Her eyes were glittering, not with tears, but with something else, and then those words came to him, echoed inside him in her voice as if she had just spoken them aloud.

_I love you._

He couldn't explain why he could hear them so clearly, or even at all, but it wasn't the first time something like that had happened. There had been other times when they would exchange a glance and know what the other was thinking without words being spoken. Maybe they did have some kind of connection, but how and when it had developed, he had no idea. It was just there, as if it had been there all along.

He gave his eyes a roll and shook his head, but he was smirking all the same.

"I know." he said as he was shoved onto the rack by one of the drow. "It just tells me that you really are a fool."

Her smile widened. "Maybe I am, but it doesn't change how I feel. Nothing will."

One drow held him down as the other strapped him onto the rack, securing his wrists and ankles. They then began their slow torture.

**xxxxxxxxxx**

As far as Quin could tell, the cat-bear understood what he wanted him to do.

It was a half-assed plan, but a half-assed plan was better than no plan at all. Time wasn't on their side so they had to rush. If the plan failed, Feral would still have a chance to get away and Quin's presence would remain unknown.

The first part of the plan involved Feral taking down a few of those orb staffs to draw the drows' attention to him. Quin had no clue what they were, but he assumed they were important. Once Feral had their attention, he would then proceed to attack one of them to keep them busy while Quin sneaked into the temple.

Quin assumed that since such a large number of drow were on the march toward the native's village, it would leave the temple somewhat unguarded on the inside. At least, he hoped so. He hadn't thought that far ahead yet. There was not much else he could do but fight, anyway.

As Quin got into position, there was another flash of light and crack of thunder, and then little droplets of rain began pattering through the forest foliage. He kept himself covered behind a tree. He drew his rapier and then bent down to Feral, laying a hand against the creature's neck.

"All right, get moving. And good luck."

The cat-bear pressed his face into Quin's hand and then darted off across the clearing, making a bee-line for one of the orb staffs.

Quin watched from behind the tree as Feral leaped and intentionally crashed into the orb, knocking it off its staff. The blue-glowing sphere dimmed and rolled onto the ground with a muffled thud. It didn't break, but Quin noticed that the other orbs set up around the perimeter were no longer glowing, either. It seemed they were all connected, most likely through magic, and must have created some kind of invisible barrier that repelled specters. Quin was curious as to how the drow had even come across such magic, unless they had found it when they claimed the temple or perhaps brought it up from the Underdark.

A call rang out across the clearing in a langauge the halfling didn't understand. It was followed by a flash of lightning and a rumble of thunder. The rain came down heavier now.

One drow came running toward Feral. The cat-bear drew himself low to the ground, growling. He might have been bristling if his fur wasn't wet. When the dark elf was within striking distance, Feral leaped at him and attached himself to the drow's face before he could draw his weapon.

The drow yelled something in his language-probably a curse-and flailed about as he made desperate and useless attempts to remove the little monster from his face. Feral let out a sound Quin had never heard before. It sounded like a panther's roar. The moment it left the cat-bear's muzzle, he ripped into the drow's throat. There was a violent flourish of blood and bits of drow before they both went to the ground. Quin looked away in disgust.

The plan was working so far. The handful of drow patrolling the perimeter were rushing toward the gruesome scene to investigate, their weapons drawn. Quin noted that a few of them had crossbows. Hopefully Feral could dodge bolts. As it appeared, he could not only dodge them, but he could also use them to his advantage.

As a drow leveled his crossbow on Feral, the cat-bear darted behind another drow as the bolt was loosed. There was a cry of pain as Feral's shield fell back, clutching his leg.

Quin grinned and moved around the tree a bit to get a view of the entrance to the temple. The two drow guarding the door were staring in Feral's direction, talking to each other, but they had yet to move from their post, and after a few moments of waiting, Quin had a bad feeling they weren't going to.

"Damn." he muttered under his breath.

The halfling moved from his cover, keeping low to the ground, and headed for a tree that was closer to the temple entrance. He peered around it to see the two drow still looking off toward the commotion. It appeared the other drow were having some difficulty fighting with Feral. The archway blocked most of Quin's view now, but what he could see was a few drow flailing about, trying to avoid attacks, either from Feral or each other. Eventually, Feral was going to grow tired. Quin had to hurry.

He searched the ground for something blunt and found a good sized rock half-buried in the ground. Quin bent and dug it out. It was easy with the ground wet. With the rock in tow, he moved out from his cover and into the clearing. As luck would have it, the drow guarding the door were still too immersed in what was going on near the archway to notice him. Quin inched his way closer, drew the rock up over his head with both hands and launched it.

The moment he heard the emphatic thud and saw one of the drow go down, Quin rushed for the stairs. They ascended over his height, so he was forced to leap through the air in order to reach the ledge. With the rain, Quin struggled to keep his grip on the ledge, but he eventually pulled himself over it. He got up just in time to see the last drow barreling in on him with his sword drawn.

Quin threw up his rapier to parry the incoming attack. When their blades came together, the drow effortlessly kicked Quin back. The halfling's foot slipped off one of the steps and he lost his balance. He rolled down a couple of steps before he finally got in a position to slow himself down. His side was aching, but nothing was broken.

The drow was already to him, a look of rage on his face. Before the halfling could move to get up, the drow's sword came down quick. Quin rolled to the side and barely missed being impaled. The tip of the blade clinked into the stone steps inches from him. Quin lifted a foot and slammed it into the drow's knee. It didn't break, but his kick did what he wanted it to do. When the drow landed hard on his hands and knees, Quin used both feet this time and launched him over the side of the stairs. It wasn't a long fall, but it would give Quin enough time to get to the temple doors.

The halfling got to his feet, holding his side, and hurried toward the enormous stone doors. The moment he reached them, a high-pitched howl rang out from somewhere behind him. The sound froze his heart; it had not come from any drow.

Quin spun around and saw the drow standing around something. He couldn't see what it was, but he didn't need to. He knew. Feral had lost his battle against the drow.

Anger and despair filled him. His eyes burned with tears and one hand clenched tight around the grip of his rapier and the other made a tight fist. As much as he would've liked to rush down those steps and slaughter the lot of them for what they'd done, he knew it would be foolish. He was outnumbered. If he got caught, Feral's fight and his death would all be in vain.

Quin turned away and shoved against the stone door until it opened. He peered inside first, a long dimly lit stone corridor greeting his sight and nothing else. As he made his way into the temple, Quin wondered how he would tell Jaelyn that her animal companion, her friend, was gone.

**xxxxxxxxxx**

Jaelyn wept for him. She yelled herself hoarse, trying to get the drow to stop, even knowing it was useless. She bargained and threatened to no avail until eventually, Bishop told her to shut up and stop wasting her breath.

She had no idea how long the drow had been torturing him.

There were no windows to the outside world to tell her how much time had passed. The only thing she knew was that seventeen torches had been exhausted since they started. She had no idea how long a torch burned for.

What felt like hours to her must have felt like days to Bishop. He endured everything they could think up using what equipment they had available, everything from cutting him up slowly, to shoving sharp, hot pins under his fingernails, and even dislocating one of his shoulders. She was surprised they hadn't resorted to breaking something at this point.

To the drows' frustration and to Jaelyn's utter shock, he never made a sound, not even when they stabbed into his body that same drow poison he had endured before when they had gotten ambushed by the drow in the forest. He grimaced, grit his teeth, convulsed with the poison's searing passage through his veins, and nearly blacked out once, but he never cried out in his agony. This was a strength that had not been in him before, for Jaelyn remembered the effect that poison had on him. He was fiercely determined not to give them what they wanted. Regardless of his iron will, he was only human; how much more could one man take before he shattered?

With tear blurred eyes, she watched him through the bars of her cell. He was bruised up and bleeding in several different places, perspiring from the pain and the efforts of keeping himself from breaking, and though his entire body was tense, he was trembling. He was barely conscious, his eyes half-lidded and his breathing slow.

The drow succeeded in one thing. They had weakened him physically. Mentally, they had yet to touch him at all. Jaelyn wondered what was going through his head, what thought, what memory, what idea, if anything, was keeping him alive. Perhaps it was simply the desire to survive.

One drow hovered over him. The other was preparing something, but Jaelyn couldn't see what it was.

"Why do you fight it?" the drow asked him. "In the end, you will die. And so will she."

Jaelyn was surprised when there was no cutting barb or retort from the ranger. Either he didn't have the strength to speak or he was determined not to let the drow get to him.

"We should just kill him now." the other drow said. "This is a waste of time."

Jaelyn stared at him. That was an odd statement for a drow to make. They loved torturing others; it gave them pleasure.

His comrade glared at him. "Our orders are to torture him until he screams. Dresmor would be...displeased if we killed him before that. You know this."

"Do you always do what Dresmor tells you to?" Jaelyn spoke.

The drow near Bishop looked over at her with a sneer. "He is our leader."

"He is a tyrant." Jaelyn corrected. "There's a difference. A true leader doesn't kill off his own."

"What would you know about it? Dresmor does what he must do. Those who fail are weak. They must be eliminated. We will not survive the coming war with weak soldiers."

"Weak? The natives on this island are inexperienced in battle. It would not take much to defeat them, as much as it pains me to admit it." Jaelyn replied with a frown.

"Natives?" the drow laughed. "It is not a war with the natives that I speak of."

Jaelyn blinked at him, confused. "What?"

"Enough!" the other drow interjected, glaring at his comrade. "Don't speak another word, fool!"

His comrade rolled his eyes. "It doesn't matter whether she knows or not. She cannot stop it. No one can."

"What do you mean?" Jaelyn asked.

The drow stepped away from the rack and approached the bars of her cell. He peered in at her with a smirk.

"Dresmor intends to return the Underdark." he said.

"After all the trouble it took to escape it? Why?"

"To invade and conquer it. To purge it of the matron mothers. With them out of the way, it will make it easier to take control. Those who refuse to join him will be purged as well."

Jaelyn shook her head. "Conquer the Underdark? But why bother? There's nothing there. It's just a cesspit of evil."

The male drow shook his head with a smirk. "The claiming of the Underdark is just a small part of a much greater plan. It is merely a resource, where our army will gain more numbers. Then when our army has grown to its maximum strength, we will storm the surface and destroy our enemies and any allied with them."

"Enemies?"

The drow shrugged, as if the answer was obvious. "The elves of the surface."

Jaelyn's eyes grew wide. "But...that's insanity! Dresmor can't possibly wipe out the matron mothers, let alone all the surface elves."

The drow smirked. "That's where you're wrong. The magic at the heart of this island will give us a strong advantage over the matron mothers and the rest of the Underdark. If they don't stand a chance, neither will the surface elves."

"Why are you so sure? You can't know how powerful the magic of this island is."

"No? We know the magic is the reason why the island is 'alive', why it moves. Magic that can move land is undoubtedly potent. And Dresmor intends to harness it."

"How?"

"He...inherited from his ancestors a spell that can absorb a limited amount of magic from any magic source and transfer it to any intended target. He will absorb that little pool of magic and transfer it to himself and to us. And then...there will be no stopping us."

Jaelyn shook her head in disbelief. "Yes, there will. And you'll do it yourselves. You can't absorb magic like that, it'll kill you. What Dresmor plans to do, it's suicide."

The drow smiled. "That's why he intends to test it out first."

"How?"

"You'll find out soon enough."

Jaelyn heard Dresmor's voice, then, inside her head. It was something he said before...

_...as soon as you've outlived your purpose._

"Me? He intends to use me to test it out? That's why he had me brought here."

The drow gave his hands a few mock claps. "Very good."

Jaelyn smiled, darkly. "And if it works, I can use that magic to destroy him...and the rest of you."

The drow laughed. "_If_ you can cast magic. You're a ranger. Any spells you can cast comes directly from your deity or nature spirits. Quite different from casting from the Weave. Besides, once we're done with your companion over there, I doubt you'll have any fight left in you. You may even come to thank Dresmor. He'll be doing you a favor by killing you."

"No, he'll be doing all of _you_ a favor." she growled at him. "If my friend dies, nothing will get in my way of destroying every last one of you."

"We're about to see if that's true or not."

The drow stepped away from Jaelyn's cell and went back to the ranger, only to find that he had lost consciousness sometime during the conversation with Jaelyn.

The drow scoffed. "Humans are so weak."

He backhanded Bishop across the face a few times to bring him around. Eventually, the ranger opened his eyes, looked around, and realized he was still in hell.

His mouth slowly curved into a tired smile and he was able to gather enough strength to speak in his well known sarcastic manner.

"Dozed off there for a minute. So, when's the real torture going to start?"

His comment might have had more impact if his voice didn't sound strained and exhausted.

The drow leaned over him, smirking malevolently. "Tired, are you? Don't worry, human, your sleep is about to be permanent."

His comrade turned to him then. "I thought you were going to torture him until he screamed?"

The drow shrugged. "I don't care if he screams. I want to hear her scream. I want her to watch him die slowly."

There was a violent rattling of chains from the cell and they both glanced at Jaelyn. Her face was hard and determined. Though there was a fury in her like she'd never felt, it was focused and it somehow strengthened her.

Or maybe she just wanted to think it did, for the next time she jerked her chains, the stone around where the hook her chains were linked to began to crack. A few pebbles broke off and landed on the floor. She gave a growl of effort when she pulled them again and the hook began loosening from the wall.

The drow hovering over Bishop turned fully to see what she was doing. He noted the hook near to coming out of the wall. Even if she broke it, it wouldn't free her completely. Her wrists and ankles would still be shackled, but she would be free to move about her cell, and Dresmor would wonder why.

The drow gestured to his comrade. "Deal with her."

He nodded and hurried to the cell, unlocking it. The moment he stepped in, the door to the chamber swung open.

They all stopped to see who it was. It was not who they had expected.


	39. Chapter 39: Love

**xxxxxx**

* * *

**Chapter Thirty-Nine:**

**Love**

**xxxxxx**

**"Quin!"** Jaelyn cried.

In the doorway to the chamber, the halfling stood alone, his rapier out and ready. His fierce gaze zeroed in on the drow near Bishop, and he wasted no time in attacking. The drow barely had enough time to clear his sword from its sheath before Quin's blade arced in at him. The drow dodged back from the attack and then jumped forward to issue his own. Quin ducked, the drow's blade whistling over his head and while in that position, he swung his rapier at the drow's legs. To the halfling's surprise, the drow leaped up and the blade passed under his feet. Quin growled a curse.

Meanwhile, Jaelyn took advantage of the distraction and yanked on her chains with all the strength she possessed. It took a few tries, but she was finally able to free the hook from the wall where her chains were attached.

The commotion made the drow in her cell spin around, drawing his weapon in the same move. The moment she dropped to the floor, he came after her, a sneer on his face.

Jaelyn's shackled ankles were still chained to the floor, but she had enough slack to maneuver. It wasn't much, but she would take what she was given.

She lifted the chain that had kept her arms pulled up. Her right hand let a bit of the chain hang to be used as a swinging weapon, like a mace. Her left held the rest near her chest. Due to her shackled wrists, there was only a small bit of chain that ran between both of her hands that she could use to block attacks with. This idea came to her the moment she had dropped to the floor. She remembered well how Bishop had done the same when they had been captured by the drow before. She only hoped she could be as clever as he had been with it.

The drow stopped short of her in surprise. He laughed.

"Do you really think you can take me with that?"

Jaelyn smiled. "I do."

"We shall see."

His sword came in at her diagonally and hard. Jaelyn brought the chain up in both hands to block the attack. The force behind the blow made sparks fly where the steel met. Jaelyn held her ground, twisted her body a bit and shoved back with the chain and her hip. The drow withdrew his blade and came back in with a thrust, aiming for her midsection. Jaelyn sidestepped the attack. The blade nicked her, but did no further damage.

The drow pulled out of his thrust and then gripped his sword with both hands as he brought a chop attack down on her. Again, his blade was blocked up high by her chain. His center, as well as her own was now vulnerable to attack. Had her legs been free enough, she could have kicked him back and got in an attack of her own.

The drow had the clear advantage and he took it. He drew back and thrust in at her again. She didn't have enough time to sidestep this time, so she bent her body backwards and used the chain to guide the blade at an upward angle away from her body, which took extreme effort and put her in another awkward position. The drow brought down another chop on her before she could balance herself out. Jaelyn was forced to kneel down on one knee as she held the chain above her head to block the incoming attack. When the blade connected, she shoved upward with all her might, sending the drow stumbling backward and gaining her feet in the same move.

Jaelyn twirled the chain around in two full, quick revolutions and then used the momentum to send it flying forward. Her aim was true. The chain swung hard into the drow's groin. The pain robbed him of breath as he dropped, but Jaelyn was satisfied with the look of utmost agony on his face. He curled up into the fetal position and wheezed.

Jaelyn quickly knelt down to him and searched him, finding two keys on his belt. As she sat down to see which one fit the lock on her ankle manacles, she looked over at the sound of fighting outside her cell.

Quin was doing a fine job of keeping up with his opponent, and he didn't even appear to be growing tired. She briefly wondered how in the Nine Hells he had gotten past the drow outside the temple, not to mention the ones inside.

That was her Quin; he could be relied on for anything, and when he did something, he really got it done.

The lock on her steel manacles clicked and they, along with the chain, fell away from her ankles. The other key was undoubtedly to the cell. She would worry about the shackles on her wrists later, when she had someone to unlock them for her.

She took up the drow's sword as she got to her feet, sparing him a glance. He wasn't moving but she could tell he was conscious by his continual groaning. She hurried out of the cell, shut the door, and locked it. They needed one drow alive. The other, however, didn't matter.

She joined Quin's fight just as the drow made another swing at his head. Quin ducked and kicked him in the shin, making him stagger back.

"Glad to see you're okay." the halfling commented without looking at her.

Jaelyn smiled. "You never cease to amaze me, Quin."

Quin blocked another incoming attack as he grinned. Jaelyn thrust in with her sword, hoping to finally end this fight, but the drow got in a diagonal parry and whipped her sword back so hard her body twisted and she almost lost her hold on her weapon. The drow moved in to finish her. Quin brought his rapier down on the drow's sword with both hands, forcing the point to the floor. With the drow bent over at the his height, Quin threw a fist into his face. The drow stumbled back again and Quin whipped his rapier at his sword arm, severing it at the wrist. The drow bellowed in pain as his hand and sword fell away. This time when Jaelyn thrust her sword in at him, it sank in. Only a few inches of the blade was sheathed in the drow's gut.

Jaelyn stared into his eyes as she spoke her next words coldly and carefully. "This is for torturing the man I love."

She slowly twisted the blade further into his gut, until it was nearly in at the hilt. He cried out in pain and then his face twisted in rage. With the last bit of strength he possessed, he grabbed for Jaelyn's throat with his remaining hand, fire flickering in his eyes for a moment before it winked out and then he went limp and slipped off her sword.

Jaelyn stood there for a moment, staring at his still face and blank eyes, and there were emotions in her now that very much resembled guilt and sadness. She couldn't figure out why she felt this way when the bastard had gotten what he deserved. She had been hoping to feel some kind of satisfaction.

When she finally turned around, bloody blade still in hand, she saw the expression on Quin's face.

"After all this..." he said, shaking his head in disbelief. "How can you still defend him after all this?"

Jaelyn frowned. "What're you talking about?"

Quin shoved an accusatory finger at the tortured ranger. "_He_ is the reason you're here! He kidnapped you and brought you to the enemy!"

She shook her head. "You don't understand all of it, Quin."

"Then explain it to me!" Quin shouted at her for the first time. "Because as of the moment, you seem to have gone mad to me."

Angry with her friend, Jaelyn tossed down her sword, marched over to Quin, grabbed his arm and dragged him over to the ranger, who was conscious and irritably waiting to be freed.

She looked pointedly at the poison-filled spider in his chest. "_That_ is the reason I am here, Quin."

Quin stared at it, confused. He had no idea what it was, and with the inherent curiosity of halflings, he reached out a finger to poke at it. Jaelyn slapped his hand away before he could.

"What is it?"

"Some device that will inject fatal poison into him if we don't get it removed. It's on some kind of internal timer. I'll explain later. We need to deal with this now."

"How?"

"You can start by getting me out of this damn thing." insisted Bishop, his voice sounding tired but still able to hold on to an annoyed tone as well.

Jaelyn nodded and moved around to his left side and then looked at Quin. "You free that arm and his legs. I'll need to see to this dislocated shoulder."

Quin nodded and got to work.

"Um...sorry." he said as he undid the shackle around Bishop's right wrist. "About before. I just...I thought he meant to bring you here."

She smirked. "I thought so, too, at first. Don't worry about it, Quin. I'm sorry I got snappy with you. It's...been a long couple of days."

Quin shook his head on the matter. "But there's something I don't understand. If he didn't mean to bring you here, then why did he kill Akereth?"

Jaelyn looked at him. "How do you know about that?"

"I found him in the forest with his throat slashed. I knew it had to be Bishop. You'd never do a thing like that."

Jaelyn sighed, dismally. She was about to speak, but Bishop beat her to it.

"I killed him and I enjoyed it. The little bastard had it coming. He got in my way for the last time."

Quin glared at the ranger and shook his head in disgust.

Jaelyn sighed again. "There was a bit more to it than that, I think."

"Is there?" Quin wondered. "Or are you just defending his bad behavior again?"

"Enough, Quin." she demanded, getting angry again. "Akereth was dead the moment he followed us. His foolish belief in a false prophecy and his refusal to accept the truth is what got him killed." She shook her head. "We don't have time to discuss it now."

"Yeah, how about a little less talk and a little more freeing me?" Bishop added.

Jaelyn looked down at him. "I'm glad to see what they did to you hasn't changed you any."

Words like that usually came out sarcastic. That's why Bishop was surprised by the sincerity behind them.

"The things they did were nothing I couldn't handle."

Jaelyn shook her head as she gently worked on freeing him from the metal shackle. "You're a tough sort, I'll give you that, but everyone has limits. I think they tested yours today."

He glared at her. "Like I said, nothing I couldn't handle."

"I'm sorry...for getting you into that."

"Why? Wasn't your fault. They were just using me to get at you. Besides, they were going to torture one or both of us eventually. It's what they do. Better they do it to me than you."

Jaelyn stared at him in surprise. It was the first time he'd ever said anything like that and probably the first time he'd ever put someone else before himself. It touched her deeply, to her very soul, to finally see and hear that he cared for her.

She smiled at him, and it was that same smile he had seen just moments before the drow began their torture. It was the smile that spoke of love.

Though she already caught the true meaning in his words, he couldn't help but try to mask it. It was reflex.

"After all, you wouldn't have lasted a minute with them."

What a waste of breath. It didn't remove that smile from her face. Why was he still trying to fight it? He knew now that he couldn't win. He'd already fallen too deep. There was no way he'd be able to climb his way back out of this one, not without leaving scars on them both.

The feel of her hand, running gently through his hair was enough to quell those thoughts. It felt good, more than good. It soothed him, made him want to sleep. He closed his eyes and the moment he did, he felt her hair against his cheek. It tickled like feathers. Then it was the feel of her lips, soft and warm against his. That mere touch of her mouth sent a pleasant jolt of energy through him that woke him up in every sense of the word. His heart hammered for more, but to his utter disappointment, she broke away.

Quin watched them, shaking his head. He hoped Jaelyn knew what she was getting herself into with this man.

Bishop caught him staring. "What're you looking at, half-man?"

The halfling grinned. "Nothing!"

"Indeed. Stare any harder and-" He felt as well as heard a pop, accompanied by a moment's worth of sharp pain that filled his entire left shoulder, ran all the way down to the tips of his fingers and all the way up into his neck. "Son of a bitch!"

Jaelyn grinned. "Better that you didn't see it coming. It would've hurt a lot worse."

He moved his arm and rolled his shoulder, experimentally. The movement caused him pain, but there was a lot less of it then there had been and at least he could move it.

With great effort, Bishop moved to sit up on the rack. Jaelyn was there to help him. Any other time, he might have pushed her away, but he was far too exhausted and weak to bother. He ached everywhere.

"We need to hurry." she said. "Before Dresmor arrives. Otherwise, all of this was for nothing."

"He's probably gone." Quin said. "The drow are on the march."

Jaelyn stared at him in alarm. "_What_?"

"I saw a troop of drow leave the temple and march out into the forest. No doubt they're on their way to the natives' village."

"Gods. They'll have no warning of the drows' coming. We have to leave now! Before it's too late."

"If they're on the march, as the half-man said, then it's already too late." Bishop replied.

Horror and panic bubbled up within Jaelyn as a thought hit her. The natives' lives were not the only ones in danger. Her sister...her infant sister was in their care.

"Don't say that." Her voice hardly rose above a whisper. It seemed she couldn't find her voice.

He stared at her, firmly. "Then what would you have me do? Lie?"

Her face turned hard and her eyes cold as she stared into his. Anger and despair mingled with her horror and panic.

"Yes!" she yelled at him, her voice breaking. "Yes, lie! Give me hope, even if it's false! My sister..."

She couldn't finish her sentence.

"Jaelyn..."

She looked at Quin. He had a strange expression on his face. He looked sad, almost regretful.

"There's something else...something else you need to know."

Jaelyn shook her head, wondering how things could possibly get any worse. "What else is there, Quin?"

"Feral...he...I needed a distraction to get into the temple. Feral created it so I could get in to rescue you, but the drow...they..."

Her brows furrowed deeply. She felt her heart stop cold in her chest. She knew what he would say. Everyone always knew before the words came. It was in the messenger's eyes, in their voice and expression. It secreted from them like sweat from pores.

She felt ill.

"No."

Quin shook his head in despair and reached for her.. "I'm sorry...so sorry. Without him, I wouldn't have been able to free you both. His death wasn't in vain."

Jaelyn jerked away from him. She backed away from them both until she felt the cold wall against her back. She couldn't get her thoughts in order, could hardly breathe. Her emotions were a chaotic mess raging inside her. She wanted to weep, wanted to scream; she wanted to hit something, wanted to _kill_ something. Instead of letting those things loose, she closed her eyes and forced them down until all she could feel of it was a tight knot in her stomach.

All that mattered now was her sister. She had to save her sister, no matter what. Her life was in Jaelyn's hands. She was only a baby, but that wouldn't matter to the drow. They would kill her as easily as they would kill anyone else. It didn't matter to them.

Yes, the first thing Jaelyn would do the moment she reached the village was find her sister and get her to safety. Feral was gone; she would be damned if she lost someone else she loved.

Jaelyn took a deep breath and opened her eyes when she finally had some kind of control over herself. The tears that had welled up in them spilled over onto her cheeks. She stiffly wiped them away and made for the cell.

Jaelyn unlocked the door and shoved it open, marching her way inside. She reached down to the groaning drow still in his fetal position, nabbed him around the collar with both hands and dragged him ungraciously out of the cell.

Her companions watched her. Though her face was blank, her body was screaming hostility. No matter how deep she tried to shove her rage, her friends could easily see it.

She pulled from her pocket the other key, the one to her shackles and gestured it to Quin. When he took it, she thrust her wrists out. "Unlock these."

Quin stuck the key in the lock and the metal cuffs fell away, clattering on the stone floor. She picked up her blood-stained sword from where she dropped it and leaned it against the rack, then she bent to uncinch the drow's sword belt and then buckle it around her own waist.

With a strength born of her anger, Jaelyn grabbed the drow and lifted him up to his feet, shoving him against the rack. He braced himself against it as she grabbed a fistful of his white hair and yanked his head back, sliding the keen edge of her sword up against his throat.

"That spider thing implanted in my friend's chest. Remove it. _Now_. Or I'll remove your head."

Both Quin and Bishop stared at her in surprise. Her voice was completely deadpanned and her eyes were filled with hate. This was a side to Jaelyn they had never seen, although the ranger had always known it existed somewhere in her. It existed in everyone. It simply needed the proper channels to free itself and those channels had been opened in her in one fell swoop.

The drow laughed hoarsely. "I'm dead either way. If you don't kill me, Dresmor will. So, you can go to the hells, you bitch."

Jaelyn's hand gripped his hair tighter and pulled his head back harder until he winced.

"I could make it slow for you." she growled at him, a flicker of red flashing in her eyes. Her blade moved from his throat to his groin. "And I'll start here."

At the sharp threat to his already tender privates, the drow hissed through his teeth, but he didn't break. "Dresmor would do much worse than this. So, go ahead."

The drow was bluffing, and foolishly underestimating Jaelyn. She was angry enough to do it. And in this anger that she had thought she had under control, she never once considered the consequences which would arise from killing him. His death meant Bishop's as well. Both rangers were lucky that Quin was there.

"I believe I will." Jaelyn replied, coldly.

Her hand moved to slice open the drow's genitalia when the halfling's hand fell on her arm.

"Wait." he said.

Jaelyn gave him a frigid, impatient look. She was so close to shoving him away.

What was wrong with her? This was her best friend.

Quin looked at the drow in Jaelyn's grasp. "You want to live, right?"

"Don't we all?" the drow snapped.

"Well, we can offer you your life. If you remove that spider whatchamacallit from our friend, you can come with us. We can gurantee your life if you do."

"And I'm supposed to believe you won't kill me once I've taken that device from his chest?"

Quin shrugged. "Yeah. We're the good guys; we keep our word. We could get you off the island as well, and give you enough gold to start over comfortably somewhere."

This appealed to the drow's interest, as he seemed to consider Quin's words.

"And how can you do these things?"

"Later." Quin said. "We don't have time. I hear that spider whatever is on a timer of sorts and if Dresmor hasn't gone off with the troop into the forest, then he could come back anytime."

"Dresmor is still here. He would not leave without her. He needs her."

Quin blinked at him. "Needs her? For what?"

"As you said, we should talk later." said the drow. "I will remove the device from your friend in exchange for my life and passage to the mainland."

Quin nodded and looked up at Jaelyn, who still had the drow in a firm grip with her sword threatening his genitals.

"Let him go, Jaelyn."

She didn't at first, simply continued glaring at him, her hand tightening on the grip of her sword.

"Come on, Jae. Time's running out."

She grit her teeth. "Fine. But I swear by Silvanus, if this is a trick, if you hurt him...I will make sure you suffer for it."

"Why would I when you have offered me my life?"

"Because you're drow."

He grinned nastily at her. "So are you."

"Get on with it already." growled Bishop, angrily. He was sick and tired of listening to all the pointless arguing when it was his life on the line.

Jaelyn moved back from the drow, but still kept close to him in case he planned to trick them.

The drow straightened and stepped in front of the ranger, looking over the mechanical spider and its belly full of deadly poison.

He grinned. "You must admit, this little contraption was effective."

"Like he said, get on with it!" Jaelyn demanded.

The drow looked at her over his shoulder. "I only mention it because it might be useful to you later."

Jaelyn only stared at him, not buying what he was selling. She would have to be a complete idiot to even consider using it. Chances were the device would be rigged to turn on them somehow.

"Remove it."

The drow shrugged and turned back to the ranger.

Everyone held their breath as he carefully pinched the sides of the metal spider with one hand while the other was cupped beneath it's back end. The glass vial of poison dropped into his palm. The drow handed it off to Jaelyn, slowly.

"Careful." he cautioned. "If even a drop gets on you, it'll kill you."

She nodded as she took it, keeping one hand under it and another around the neck. She walked over to a corner of the chamber and gently set the vial on the floor, then returned to her companions.

The drow had pulled the metal backing off the spider to reveal two tiny buttons. One was to release the poison into the victim and the other was to toggle the position of the spider's eight appendages. He pushed the latter.

Bishop felt the metal appendages unhook under his skin, sending pain through his chest and then the drow yanked the spider out. Bishop had never felt more relieved in his life. But it didn't last long.

"Now," the drow began. "We should pro-"

His words ended in a strangled noise as Bishop's hand shot around his throat in an iron grip. The drow's gray eyes went wide and his hands went around the ranger's wrist to try and break his grip. He didn't have much luck.

"We gave him our word!" Quin shouted.

"No." Bishop growled, squeezing the drow's windpipe. It seemed some of his strength had returned. "You gave him _your_ word."

Jaelyn laid her hand on his arm. "Quin's right. Besides, there's no point in killing him now."

Bishop didn't look at her. He kept his gaze on the struggling drow, who could only choke in protest. "I didn't say there was a point. I just want to."

"Only because he had a hand in your torture."

"So? Don't stand there and tell me you wouldn't do the same. In fact, you _did_ do it. I heard what you said to that drow before you killed him."

"We don't have time for this, Bishop. Regardless of what he did to you, we need him. He's the only one that can lead us to your weapons and lead us out of this place. Please, let him go."

Though her words weren't a command, there was a command in them nonetheless, as well as a lot of impatience and anger. He didn't like it, but he knew she had a point.

He growled like an enraged animal. "Fine."

Bishop shoved the struggling drow away and stood up from the rack. His legs felt heavy and his knees were weak, all from the stress put on them by the rack, but if he could strangle that drow, he could certainly walk. He leaned back against the rack to give himself a moment to let the weakness fade.

"Take us to where you keep your captives' confiscated equipment." Jaelyn demanded of the drow, leaving no room for argument.

He rubbed his throat, glaring at the ranger for a moment and then turned to her with a small nod. "They are kept in a storage room down the corridor. Fortunately, it is on the way out. Let's go."

Jaelyn looked at her companions. "Ready?"

Quin nodded in reply and Bishop was making an unsteady path for the door. The male drow passed him and opened the door to the chamber, peering out into the corridor to make sure it was safe. Jaelyn stopped next to Bishop.

"You look a little unsturdy. Need help?"

"No." he snapped.

She scoffed. "Fine. Sorry I asked."

He glanced at her. "Look, I'm fine, all right? I'm not made out of glass."

"I didn't say you were. You were having trouble walking and I thought you needed a hand, that's all." she replied, coldly.

He rose a brow. "I'm not an old man, either."

Jaelyn frowned, shook her head and left to join Quin.

Needless to say, Bishop was surprised. He was sure that one would have gotten a smile out of her, or perhaps one of her playful insults, but she just seemed angry and annoyed.

The drow drew his head back from the door and looked over his shoulder at all of them. "It's safe. Let's go."

He led them down the torchlit, stone hall and into a small room at the end of it. It was stacked with unmarked crates, rusted weapons, and other odds and ends, including Bishop's confiscated weapons.

The ranger strapped on his swordbelt and then took up his favored dagger from one of the crates. He looked at it for a moment, running his thumb over his engraved name. He gestured it to Jaelyn without looking.

"Here."

She shook her head and pushed it toward him. "No, I don't need it. I have a sword now."

He looked at her this time as he gestured it to her once more. "It's yours now."

Jaelyn looked back at him in shock. She couldn't believe he would offer her the very instrument he had claimed helped him survive. It was the only part of his equipment he went out of his way to take meticlous care of. It was also the blade that had taken Akereth's life and no doubt countless other lives before him, but she tried not to think about that. This guesture had deep meaning. It was as if he were giving a part of himself to her.

"What? No, I couldn't. You love that thing. You shouldn't be giving it to me, especially not after I took it from you before."

Quin laughed. "He does love that knife, but I think he loves y-ow!" The halfling glared at Bishop and rubbed his shoulder where the ranger had hit him. "What was that for?"

Bishop ignored him and pressed the knife hilt first into Jaelyn's palm without a word, closing her fingers over it. His hand lingered on hers for a moment before he finally let go.

Jaelyn held his gaze, smiling a bit.

"Thank you. I'll take good care of it."

"You better or I'm taking it back."

The drow standing at the door spoke impatiently, "I do hate to interrupt, but we should get moving."

They followed the drow through a maze of dimly lit corridors, and to their amazement, they had yet to come across any of his people.

"It's like a labryinth." Jaelyn noted. "How did you find your way, Quin?"

"Luck." replied the halfling. "I definitely wouldn't have found my way out again."

"And you didn't come by any drow?"

"A few, but I hid from them."

"Whatever gods you worship, little one, they certainly favor you." the drow commented.

"I wouldn't think so. I haven't been to any religious services in a really long time."

"We all worship in our own way."

"Yeah, I probably haven't been doing that as much as I should be, either."

The drow smiled, but said nothing.

They proceeded down a long corridor with a door at the end that opened up into an enormous altar room. There were no windows here. Torches were set in iron brackets against the four stone pillars in the room. The light bathed the room in a warm glow, illuminating the strange foreign markings carved into the pillars and on the walls.

The long aisle that led from the two large double doors on the other side of the room and up to the altar was carpeted in some kind of worn, dark green linen, trimmed in black, and embroidered in gold were those same weird symbols and glyphs that were on the walls and pillars.

To their right was the altar itself, a long slab of obsidian that sat before a broken statue on a pedestal. It was impossible to tell what the statue had once been due to the fact that there was nothing from the knees up. The legs and feet looked human, however, and feminine.

"Was it like this when you got here?" Jaelyn inquired, staring at the remnants of some forgotten goddess.

"Yes." replied the drow. "We don't know anything about this place, other than the fact that it wasn't the natives who built it."

"How do you know?" Quin asked.

"Isn't it obvious? Look at how they live and what they know. They could not have built it. When we arrived here, this place was untouched. It had been untouched for a long time, perhaps centuries. When we searched it, we found nothing of the people that had been here. There were rooms of treasure, some magical items, and old weapons but no writings, no remains, nothing. Whoever they were, it seems they had simply vanished. If the natives' claim of being the first people here is true, then only they will know who these people were."

"How strange." Quin commented.

Jaelyn stared around. "This island...it's full of secrets and mysteries."

"That it is. But considering it moves about, it shouldn't be so surprising. Who knows what it has picked up on its past journeys?"

"I wonder why the natives didn't mention these people to us before. I would think they'd have come in contact with them sooner or later."

The drow shrugged. "There are many possibilities. Perhaps these people are their ancestors, or travelers that came and didn't last long."

She supposed it was possible, but she still wondered why the natives had never mentioned it. She was also wondering something else.

"Why wasn't this place turned into a temple of Lolth? It seems to me that you would have done so."

The drow shrugged. "Not all of us worship Lolth. A good number follow Vhaeraun and some choose to worship no deity at all. Others that have followed Lolth in the Underdark left her behind when they reached the surface. Only a small handful brought her with them, either out of fear or forced habit, and they made a small temple to their goddess elsewhere. Dresmor wouldn't allow them to worship here. He was one who left the Spider Queen behind."

"Why would some deny their goddess like that?" Jaelyn asked as they continued through the altar room.

The drow looked at Jaelyn firmly. "Why should they worship her? Why should any male drow when she despises us? We are mere tools and slaves in her eyes. It's always been said that Lolth rewards those she favors with power. Yet no male has ever risen to great power and rank by worshipping and pleasing her. No, it is the matron mothers she rewards. If males wish to get anywhere in a Lolthian society, they must please their matrons. "

"You sought to leave all that behind when you left the Underdark, to seek freedom, and yet you live no different now than you would have in the Underdark: in the shadow of a tyrant."

He shook his head. "I would be a fool to deny your point. Dresmor has become a male version of a matron mother, but it was not the Underdark that twisted him. He was always different from the rest of us, he and his brother; their nature wasn't like our own. Though Dresmor had a dark side, he was a shade more compassionate than the rest of us. And his brother, Gulaonar, was a strong leader, who had great plans for us. Those plans were shattered when Dresmor came across that surface elf. She had a strange hold on him and yet it wasn't even her doing. Dresmor simply became obsessed to the point that it corrupted him. How odd that is. He could survive the Underdark for so long without succumbing to its evil ways and yet all it took was a simple wood elf to darken his heart."

"No," Jaelyn said, shaking her head. "Wherever we are born and raised, a part of that place always stays with us, a part of us is always touched and affected by it in some way. Gulaonar told me his brother's story. He had a lot of hope when he left the Underdark. I imagine he must've thought he'd find some kind of peace on the surface, some kind of happiness. When he fell in love with that wood elf, he must've thought he'd finally found it. And when she refused him, when she kept rejecting him because of what he was, those hopes must have shattered...and then so did he. He finally succumbed to the darkness the Underdark had put in him."

The drow looked at her, studied her for a long moment before he spoke. "Is it true, what you told Dresmor? Are you really his daughter?"

She nodded, grimly. "Gulaonar told me. The story fits my background."

"I've never seen Dresmor look so surprised." the drow commented. "It's exceedingly difficult to move him, and you did so with one statement. He believes you."

"He would be a fool not to," she said. "Considering what he did to her, not to mention the fact that I have a slight resemblance to him."

The drow stared long and hard at her face. "Yes...I see it now. The eyes and the nose." He shook his head. "But it changes nothing. His daughter or not, he will kill you if you don't kill him first."

Jaelyn sighed. "I know. I know what I have to do...and I'm not afraid to do it."

The drow nodded as they reached the double wooden doors to the altar room. "Good."

He pulled one door open a bit and peeked out to make sure it was safe. With none of his people in sight, he opened the door completely. It gave a small creak that echoed in the altar room.

They all stepped through the door and came to a T shaped corridor. There were passages to their left and right and a long carpeted corridor before them that led to the large double stone doors that were the temple entrance.

The drow began trekking down the long corridor, the other three following close behind him.

"We are going to need to figure out a way to get past my people. I have no doubt that they will be on the other side of those doors." he stated.

"Another distraction?" Quin opted.

Before she could stop herself, Jaelyn scoffed and said in an impassive voice, "Right, because yours went so well."

Quin flinched, lowered his head, and said nothing, but it was obvious by the look on his face that what she had said hurt him. A lot.

The ranger, who'd been uncharacteristically silent during their trek through the temple, spared Jaelyn a look of astonishment.

She never spoke to Quin like that. Ever.

Perhaps it was his exhaustion getting the better of him, but even he knew that she was being exceedingly unfair to the halfling.

His plan may have gotten her animal companion killed, but he had made the right choice. It was the only way he was going to get into the temple to free them, just as it would be the only way to get them out.

It was apparent by the way she was behaving that she had no idea what to do with her grief. She was snapping at the wrong people and he had yet to see her cry, really cry, for her fallen friend. It didn't seem right for an emotional person like her to act this way. He could only assume that she had never experienced loss like this before. She was trying to bury it all, and burying ones emotions was a dangerous business. He should know, he'd been doing it for a long time.

A retort about how they could still be drow prisoners came to mind. However, he had enough sense to keep his mouth shut.

The male drow looked between Jaelyn and Quin for a moment, a brow raised, and then he stated, "A distraction is in fact what we'll need. I will create it. The three of you stay here and out of sight until I return."

He turned away from them, opened one of the large stone doors and slipped through it, pulling the door closed behind him, leaving the trio with an uncomfortable silence.

Quin stared at his boots, tears burning his eyes. He refused to meet the gazes of his companions.

"I'm sorry." he finally said, his voice quivering. "I thought he would be okay. I thought he could fend them off."

"You thought wrong." Jaelyn replied, angrily.

Somewhere inside the chaotic storm of emotions she was barely keeping down, she knew she was being unfair, she knew what she was saying was wrong, but she was so angry, so filled with sorrow. She simply didn't know what to do. She was afraid of letting those emotions go completely, afraid of being consumed by them if she did. It was the anger. It pushed at her relentlessly, overcoming her sadness, leaving her with only the desire to hurt something, _anything_. The more she fought it, the more forceful it pushed for freedom. What would she do if she lost control of it? Who would she hurt in her rage? Words were one thing, easily forgotten and forgiven. Physical harm was something different. If she lost control and hurt Quin or Bishop...the thought was unbearable.

The door to the temple opened and the drow stepped through, his hair and clothes wet.

"The way is clear, but we don't have much time. Let's go."

There wasn't a drow in sight when they stepped out of the temple, but the weather had taken a turn for the worse. There was a heavy downpour, lightning streaked across the sky and thunder rumbled angrily behind it.

"How did you get rid of them?" Jaelyn asked their guide.

The male drow smirked. "Simple. I told them Dresmor was ordering them to the tower to prepare for war. They moved without hesitation. Dresmor may be a tyrant, but he is an effective one."

"Not so effective if you're willing to go against him." Jaelyn pointed out.

The drow rose a brow. "Willing? I wasn't provided with much of a choice. You offered me my life when it surely would've been snuffed out by him. But enough talk. We need to get moving. I don't know how long they'll wait, and Dresmor may have found your cell empty by now."

They stepped out into the rain, started down the temple steps and passed under the stone arch.

It was then that Jaelyn noticed the familiar brown and beige-striped fur not far away. Her heart grew cold at the sight of Feral's unmoving form.

She quickly broke away from the others and ran to her departed animal friend, falling to her knees at his side.

There was a crossbow bolt sticking out of his neck. The fur was soaked from the rain and his own blood. It mixed with the mud under him.

With her heart banging against her chest, she gently removed the bolt.

There was a tight feeling in her throat and pain in her chest as she laid her hand on Feral's head, stroking his fur. He was cold.

Tears stung her eyes, but they didn't fall. She found it difficult to breathe over the lump in her throat, over the ache in her chest, and over the anger that was boiling inside her.

She would not leave Feral here. He deserved a proper burial. It was the best she could do for him now in return for his sacrifice.

Jaelyn gently lifted the cat-bear into her arms, cradling him as she got to her feet. She stroked his fur, not caring one bit that he was muddying her clothes.

She joined the others, who had been waiting for her without complaint at the edge of the forest.

Quin looked at her with an expression of deep guilt and sorrow. He wiped his face of both tears and rain and then turned away, making his way into the forest with his head down.

The male drow and Bishop followed behind him.

Jaelyn cast one angered, hateful look at the temple and then joined her companions.

**xxxxxxxxxx**

The drow led them far away from the temple.

They traveled a good ten miles or so through the rain, and when they finally stopped, it was at a small cave in a cliff face, a shelter from the rain.

All of them but Jaelyn huddled into it. She searched the area for a place to bury her animal companion.

Quin stood at the mouth of the cave, watching her, sadly.

"I've never seen her like this." he said, his voice soft. "If only I had thought of another way..."

"Enough." came Bishop's cold voice.

He was sitting some ways behind the halfling, his back against the cave wall. He winced every now and then as he tried to rub the pain out of his left shoulder.

"You made the right call. And she knows it."

Quin turned and looked at the ranger. He was surprised by those words, to say the least. It wasn't everyday Bishop tried to reassure anyone, let alone someone he didn't even like.

"Does she?"

"She'd be a fool not to. The animal's death was a small sacrifice to make, considering one or both of us would've likely met the same fate if you hadn't come...as much as it kills me inside to admit that."

Quin shook his head, but said nothing. He turned to face the mouth of the cave once again.

Outside in the pouring rain, Jaelyn knelt beside a large tree, laying Feral's body in the wet grass. She then began digging his grave with her hands.

Quin stepped out of the cave and went to her. He knelt next to her without a word and helped her dig. She stopped long enough to look at him, her face blank. Quin met her gaze, his sadness showing through his eyes and expression. She had never seen him look so sad before and she hated herself for the things she had said to him. They both went back to digging in silence.

When the cat-bear was finally laid to rest and his grave covered, Quin spoke a few words in his honor and then looked to Jaelyn to add her own. He was met with silence.

When he saw her face, he was stricken to see that it was still blank. There were no tears in her eyes or on her face. This was not like her at all and her whole lack of emotion worried Quin more than anything else.

Not knowing what to do, Quin laid his hand on her shoulder, gave it a small squeeze and then returned to the cave to leave her alone. Maybe she wanted to grieve by herself.

A few hours had come and gone, and Jaelyn remained kneeling at the cat-bear's grave. She hadn't even moved, only continued sitting there in the rain, staring at the ground. Her clothes were soaked and muddy, but she didn't even seem to notice. She drowned in her thoughts and continued to fight off the anger clawing at her mind, but those thoughts were doing a fine job of feeding that anger, strengthening it.

She finally moved for the first time in hours. Her hands curled into fists.

"Get up."

She hardly registered the sound of Bishop's voice over the pounding of her own heart in her ears. Her brows furrowed.

"Go away." she growled.

"How long are you going to sit here?"

"I said go away!"

"You want me gone? Then get up and make me leave, otherwise I'm staying right here."

She looked up at him and the first thing he noticed was the red tint in her green eyes. "What do you want from me? Why don't you go pester Quin and leave me be?"

"What I want is for you to snap out of it."

"Snap out of what? I'm not doing anything!"

"Exactly. You just buried your friend and you're doing _nothing_."

She shot up from her spot, standing a mere foot away from him, her nails biting into her palms.

"And what would you like me to do, huh? _Cry_? Crying isn't going to bring him back!" she shouted at him.

"Nothing is going to bring him back. He's dead." he replied in an impassive tone. "Stop trying to hold it all back, stop burying it; you'll only destroy yourself."

She gave an indignant scoff. "Don't pretend like you give a damn."

He frowned. "I wouldn't be here if I didn't give a damn, you can be sure of that."

"Just get out of my way. I don't want to talk to you anymore."

"I'll get out of your way...once you stop acting like this."

"I'm not acting any different than I should, considering the situation. So I don't know what you're talking about."

"You know what I'm talking about." he replied, calmly. "If not, then draw your weapon and I'll show you exactly what you've been doing."

Jaelyn frowned. "What?"

"Draw your weapon."

She shook her head with an unpleasant expression. "No."

"You can do it now of your own will or I can force you to do it. Either way, you _will_ be drawing that sword."

She stood there without moving, as he expected she would.

Without a word, he drew his own sword and made no hesitation whatsoever in attacking her. His blade cut through the sheet of rain as it arced in at her. Jaelyn ducked the attack and then danced back away from him, glaring.

"I'm not playing this game with you!" she shouted.

He gave her a nasty grin. "And what makes you think this is a game?"

His blade came straight down at her in a chop, and just as she dodged it, he swung back into another attack. She ducked again, barely missing the blade as it cut the air above her head. She could actually feel the blade's passage shift her hair. Had she been any slower...

"Come on," he urged as he circled around her. "Attack me. You know you want to. You blame me for it as much as you do the halfling. So come get your revenge."

Jaelyn only looked at him, refusing to give in.

So, Bishop made another attack. When she sidestepped it, he stuck out his foot and successfully tripped her up. She landed on her back in the mud.

She moved to get to her feet, but he shoved her back and hovered over her.

"Pretty pathetic." he said. "It's like I haven't even taught you anything."

Jaelyn stared up at him, her face showing nothing, but her eyes still had that red sheen. She said nothing as she attempted to rise again.

Bishop wasn't having it. Once again, he shoved her back into the mud.

She clenched her teeth, her hands curling into fists.

"Stay in that filth." he said, provoking her. "It's where your kind belongs."

Something in her finally gave way, and he saw it. It was what he had been striving to do since he started this session, to draw out those emotions she fought to keep down.

Jaelyn let out a scream of rage as she shot to her feet. Bishop backed up a few steps to give her space.

Her blade sang as it left its sheath and she launched herself at him, unleashing a flurry of slashes, jabs and thrusts, hardly a heartbeat between each.

She wasn't as graceful as she had been in their training sessions and she wasn't thinking her attacks through or watching for her opponents next move. In blind rage, she attacked with only force, pounding her sword against his.

He remained on the defensive, blocking each attack with relative ease. His form was relaxed, absorbing the force of the blows as they came, and every time her sword met his, there was an intense vibration that ran through the steel and numbed his swordarm.

They remained locked in that violent dance for what seemed like hours, her slashing away at him while he blocked and parried, until Bishop started noticing the change in her attacks. They were growing sluggish and it seemed to take more of an effort to lift her weapon.

Then it happened.

She sliced her blade up high, forcing him to block up high, leaving his center vulnerable to attack. He didn't think she would have noticed the opening in her state of rage; she hadn't noticed any other openings and hadn't bothered reducing her own, but she noticed this time.

Their blades held together for a moment longer and then her foot slammed forward into his stomach, making him stagger backwards.

The force behind the attack was more than a little alarming as he flailed to keep his balance. Jaelyn took advantage of his unfortunate situation and slashed her blade horizontally at his exposed midsection before she could even think about what she was doing.

The blade ripped into his already torn leather armor and further still into his flesh. He fell back into the mud with a look of surprise.

He couldn't believe it. She had finally outdone him.

Whether by skill or luck or because his own skill suffered from his exhaustion, she had made it past his defenses. And why not? She had made it past all his other ones, so why not the only one he had left?

He knew he should feel bitter about it, but he didn't. In fact, he found he was quite proud of her, even with the knowledge that he would be carrying the evidence of her success around with him for the rest of his days, in the form of an abdominal scar.

The session may not have ended as he would've liked, but he succeeded in what he had started out to do. He'd drawn out and exhausted her rage. He could no longer see it or sense it on her. In fact, she looked quite horrified by what she had just done.

During their escape from the temple and journey to the cave, Bishop had remembered Gulaonar's description of Dresmor's ancestral sword. He had said Jaelyn was the only one who could use it because she was the only descendent with a pure enough heart and soul to weild it without succumbing to its taint and curse. Had she attained the sword in her hatred and rage, it would've destroyed her and bound her soul with its curse. With those intense negative emotions now gone, she would be ready to use that weapon if she got her hands on it and she would be able to face Dresmor with a clear mind.

The red haze that had clouded Jaelyn's mind when she attacked him vaporized the moment she felt her blade slice into flesh.

Jaelyn dropped her sword and fell to her knees beside him.

"Not bad at all, drow." he said with a smirk.

But she wasn't listening. Her eyes were on the wound she had inflicted on him, the sight of it filling her with dismay, with guilt and regret.

There was blood, so much blood.

"It's not as bad as it looks, trust me." he assured her. "Barely even hurts."

He slowly sat up to actually get a look at the damage. The eight inch cut wasn't that deep, but it was still bleeding, staining what was left of his armor and running down his side. He poked at it, made a face, and then looked at her.

"I..." Jaelyn finally said and faltered, her eyes still on his wound. She had done that to him, she had hurt him. She had cut into the man she loved.

She finally looked up and met his gaze. A wave of emotional pain, all she had been holding down, crashed over her. She burst into tears and collapsed into him. The agony flowed out of her in great torrents as she trembled and sobbed against him.

He held her for a long time in the rain and mud, caressing her wet hair and along her neck until it soothed her pain.

Finally, her crying and trembling abated. She lifted her head from his chest and looked up at him. That red glimmer he'd seen in her eyes before was nowhere to be found. All he saw was that lovely shade of pale green.

"I could have killed you."

He laughed. "You got close, I'll grant you that. But you wouldn't have come that close if I was in top form."

"So, why do it at all if you weren't in the shape to fight?"

He stared at her, grimly. "Because you would have let that rage build until it consumed you. You needed to let it out. If you'd gained control of Dresmor's sword in that unstable condition..."

He let her fill in the blanks.

Jaelyn stared at him for a moment and then her eyes grew large as she finally realized how close to damnation she had come. If he hadn't pushed her, if he hadn't drawn out that rage, that sword would have claimed her and eventually, her very soul.

She couldn't speak for a moment, overwhelmed as she was. Tears filled her eyes once again, but this time they were tears of joy.

She _knew_ there was good in him, and here it was finally, shining so brightly before her.

"You..." she spoke finally. "I..." She laughed. "I really don't know what to say."

Bishop shrugged. "I don't think anything needs to be said."

He got to his feet and headed for the cave.

Jaelyn sat there a moment, watching him as he entered their shelter and spoke a few words to the halfling. Quin nodded and bent down to rummage through his pack. He brought out a couple of small bottles and handed them to the ranger.

She got to her feet finally, the ranger's words still in her mind.

He was right, there was no need for words. All she had wondered about and hoped for had been made plain by his actions through this day. His subtle admittance that he would rather endure the drow torture than to see her go through it, gifting her with his favored knife, and now saving her from damning herself...it was clear.

He didn't just care about her. He loved her.


	40. Chapter 40: Dreams and Traps

**xxxxxx**

* * *

**Chapter Forty:**

**Dreams and Traps**

**xxxxxx**

**When** the rain had finally calmed, the trio and their new companion, a drow who called himself Kalandiin, continued their journey through the forest at Jaelyn's insistence that they keep moving. If they could get to the village just after the drow, there was a good chance they could get the children to safety and get the natives together quick enough to stand against them.

It was here that Bishop reminded her that since the drow were traveling as a large group, they would be moving slow, and with all the equipment they were carrying, even slower. They were also likely to tire more quickly and would be forced to take frequent breaks in order to reach the village in good enough shape to fight.

He estimated that the drow would reach the village in two days at the most. Their own group could, if they kept a good pace, reach the village in a day and a half.

What none of them had taken into consideration was the toll that had been taken on both rangers. Neither could remember the last time they had gotten any form of rest. Of the two, it was Bishop who was in the worst condition. He had gained a bit of his strength back during their escape from the temple, but the fight he'd had with Jaelyn weakened him considerably, the resulting wound having barely been healed with a few of the halfling's potions. Considering their circumstances, he'd chosen to say nothing about how he was feeling.

They had traveled in full conversation, exchanging what little information they had to offer each other. Jaelyn had explained a few things regarding Akereth's death and Dresmor's reasons for forcing Bishop to kidnap her. Quin had offered some enlightening information himself, mostly concerning the drow troop and the pendants he had seen them wearing, which resembled the orbs that had been set around the temple's perimeter. They had all agreed that the orbs and the pendants were the same, offered the same ghost-repelling effect. Kalandiin confirmed it. The drow was also forthcoming with his people's battle plans, what little of them there were. He explained that with Gulaonar repelled by the magic pendants, there was not much hope for the natives.

The drow troop that marched on the village consisted of a little over half their true force, which was about thirty or forty soldiers. Half the force were crossbowmen and archers and the other were swordsman, who would also likely be carrying an alternative weapon in the form of acidglobes, the very things Jaelyn and company had located and confiscated in one of the drow's storehouses. Apparently, the drow had a backup stash.

Kalandiin went on to explain that the drow would be attacking in three forces while Dresmor sought out the Heart of the island. The swordsman would be attacking from the north entrance to the village and south, and the archers and crossbowmen from the west. There was nothing to the east but a cliff wall. The tactic would successfully cut off any chance of escape. As Bishop had claimed many times, the natives had no chance in the hells of winning the fight.

But it was he who came up with a plan that might change that. However, he kept it to himself for the time being, just in case their new drow 'friend' decided to turn on them. He would tell Jaelyn and the halfling later, when he could get them out of earshot of the drow.

It was three hours into their travel when Bishop could no longer hide how he was feeling.

Where he was usually the one leading, he was now the one following, taking up the rear with a large berth between him and the others.

He felt now almost as weak and tired as he had felt while strapped down to the rack. His pace was agonizingly slow. Every step took great effort, and to make matters worse, his head felt light and fuzzy, leaving him slightly disoriented. No matter how hard he pushed himself, his body refused to move any faster. He knew he was only going to slow them down and they would be forced to leave him behind. It irritated him immensely that he was the only one in their little group at this point who was pretty much useless, at least until he had some kind of rest.

He was uncertain of how long he could keep going like this, and just as that thought came, a wave of vertigo took him and his legs finally gave out.

Some ways ahead of him, Jaelyn sensed that something was wrong. The presence that she had felt behind her through their travels was no longer present.

When she turned around, she found Bishop struggling to pull himself up from the ground. She hurried over to help him up while Quin and Kalandiin stopped to wait for them.

Jaelyn pulled the ranger's arm around her shoulders to give him support. Bishop tried not to lean too much of his body weight against her. He knew if he did they would both find a painful spot on the ground. If he fell again, he was certain he wouldn't be able to get back up.

With the ranger as steady as he was going to get, they joined Quin and the drow.

Kalandiin shook his head as he watched them. "He is in no shape to travel."

Jaelyn shot him a smoldering look, knowing exactly what he was or would soon be hinting at. "I am not leaving him behind."

"He will only slow us down."

Bishop swayed again and as a result, Jaelyn swayed with him. They almost fell.

"I said no." she replied, coldly as she steadied them both, an arm sliding around his waist.

Kalandiin frowned. "Then you will not reach the village in time. So be it."

"He's right." Bishop finally spoke in a weary voice. He was quite pale and looked as if he would pass out at any moment. "Go on without me. I'll catch up."

"No."

He mustered a stern look. "Do you want your sister to die?"

Jaelyn frowned.

"Then go."

"We can't just leave you here alone." she insisted.

"You can. It's simple. Just turn around, walk, and don't look back."

"And what if the drow find you in this condition? You won't be able to defend yourself."

Before they could argue it further, Quin offered up an option.

"Hey, wait, guys." he said, holding up his hands for silence. "Why don't we just split up? Jaelyn, you and Kalandiin can go on to the village. I'll stay with Bishop."

"I'll stay with him. You go with Kalandiin." Jaelyn insisted.

Quin shook his head. "No, it has to be you. If Gulaonar has been repelled from the village, you'll have to explain to the natives what they have to do and explain why you have Kalandiin with you. You're the only one that speaks drow."

"But-"

"Just do it." Bishop cut her off, his tone making it perfectly clear that he was getting impatient with her. "You don't have anymore time to argue about it."

She grit her teeth in frustration. "All right, fine, but I don't like it."

"Neither do I." he replied, casting a narrow-eyed look at Kalandiin. "But it's the only option we got if you want to save your sister and those worthless natives."

Jaelyn reluctantly moved away from him, but he caught her arm.

She looked back, waiting.

"Not yet." he said and pulled her away from the other drow with some difficulty, as he found it almost impossible to walk straight. Again, Jaelyn had to help him keep his feet.

When he was sure they were out of earshot, he leaned back against a tree to keep himself standing and began explaining his plan to her, the one that might give the natives a chance.

Jaelyn nodded as he spoke and when he wrapped it up, she smiled at him.

"It may work." she said. "Curious. You put a lot of effort into this. I thought you didn't care what happens to them?"

He gave her a weak smirk. "I don't. I'm not doing it for them."

Her smile widened as she realized what he meant, her eyes locked on his.

"Bishop-" she began, but he cut her off before she could finish.

"There's one more thing." His gaze shifted to Kalandiin before coming back to her again. "Don't turn your back on him, not even for a second. You'll eventually stop for the night. So, if you can manage it, sleep light and keep your weapon within reach at all times."

His obvious concern for her well-being was heart-warming, but she wondered if maybe he was being overly concerned.

"Do you think he'll do something?"

Bishop shrugged. "It's possible. Don't know for sure, but better to be safe than sorry."

Jaelyn nodded, took his hand in hers and gave it a brief squeeze. "All right. Be careful...and get whatever rest you can. You look terrible."

Without waiting for a response from him, Jaelyn made her way over to Quin, laying her hand on his shoulder.

The halfling looked up at her to see a serious expression on her face.

"Take care of him, Quin."

The halfling nodded, vigorously. "I won't let anything happen to him. I won't let you down again, I promise."

Jaelyn bent down until she was eye level with him. "You have never let me down, Quin. Ever. Those things I said to you...they were uncalled for and unfair, and I am sorry for saying them."

Quin shook his head, patting her hand where it still gripped his shoulder gently. "No need to apologize. You were upset."

"Yes, and I took it out on you. I made you feel even worse than you already did."

"All of this can wait. We must get moving." came Kalandiin's insistant voice, cutting through the moment.

Jaelyn glowered at him. "Shut up."

She looked back at Quin to see him smiling. After a moment, she reached out and embraced him.

"Be careful." Quin said, hugging her back.

Jaelyn straightened and smiled at both of her friends. "I'll see you two soon."

With that, she joined an impatient Kalandiin and the two drow set out.

The Shadow Thief stood beside the ranger as they both watched the pair of drow move through the forest until they could no longer be seen between the trees.

There was a faint look of concern on Bishop's face.

"Well, what now?" Quin spoke, looking up at him.

"A few more miles." Bishop insisted.

Quin gaped at him. "Are you insane? You can barely walk now!"

"I don't care. I don't trust that drow alone with her. So, we're going to follow them a bit. He won't expect it, given the condition I'm in, so chances are if he tries something, it'll be soon."

Quin shook his head with a frown, uncertain with the whole thing. "It isn't wise to keep pushing yourself like this. You need to regain your strength before we have to fight."

"I'm aware of my own limits, half-man." Bishop snapped at him. "I've gone through much worse than this and was still capable of a fight. I'll rest once I know she's safe enough with him."

Quin found himself astonished. "Wow...you really do care about her."

"Just shut up and get moving."

They followed a distance behind Jaelyn and Kalandiin, keeping them in sight while trying to keep themselves unseen at the same time.

Quin kept at the ranger's side, as he often looked as if he was about to keel over. The halfling was forced to steady him time and again, and being much shorter than the man, the task was exceedingly difficult. Many times, Quin had tried to convince him to stop, but Bishop stubbornly refused to comply.

Eventually, they lost sight of the two drow.

"Okay, we've lost them." Quin said. "Now can we stop?"

In his utter exhaustion, Bishop could only mutter one word.

"No."

Quin shook his head in disbelief. "You're insane. I don't care what you say, we're not going a step further until you rest. Jaelyn charged me with making sure you don't die, and that's what I mean to do. You're just going to have to trust that she can take care of herself."

With a mean look, the ranger reached out to do some damage to the halfling, but only managed to sway violently toward him. Quin intentionally took a step back and Bishop fell over.

Quin bent down next to him and gave him a pat on the shoulder. "That's a good man. Get your rest, I'll keep watch."

Before he could draw away, Bishop turned over on his back and grabbed the halfling's arm.

"One hour." he groaned. "Wake me."

With that, he finally sank into the darkness of unconsciousness.

**xxxxxxxxxx**

Jaelyn and Kalandiin traveled mostly in silence, until about five or so miles into their journey when the male drow had finally decided to say something.

Jaelyn's mind had been elsewhere through their trip, concerned for her friends, so she was not aware of her surroundings. She didn't notice how dangerous letting her mind wander was until the drow's voice cut through her thoughts. If he'd been armed, it could've been his sword that had cut through her instead. She needed to focus.

"Your friends are following us."

She looked up at him. "What? How do you know?"

"Because I saw the looks your human companion was giving me." replied Kalandiin. "I suspect he doesn't trust me."

"Would you?"

"A fair point. But I assure you, you have my loyalty...until we reach the mainland."

Jaelyn stopped, frowning at the drow's back. "Is that some form of threat?"

"No, it's fact, as I'm sure you're well aware. We will no longer need each other's company once we reach Faerun."

She supposed he had a point, but she didn't appreciate the ominous quality to the drow's voice.

Jaelyn looked over her shoulder, but saw nothing that hinted at them being followed by anyone. No out of place noise, no odd movements of plant life, nothing.

If they followed, she wondered in frustration what they thought they were doing. They should've been stopping to let Bishop recover.

It would be the ranger's doing, she knew. Quin would've had an interesting time trying to get him to see reason, but Bishop was well beyond that sometimes.

Jaelyn sidled up beside Kalandiin.

"Walk faster." she said. "If they are following us, they won't be able to keep our pace."

"I'd think you'd want them to follow."

"Any other time, I would. But I'm not going to have that stubborn son of a bitch kill himself just to make sure you don't do anything to me."

With that said, they began to increase their pace. They traveled that way until nightfall, and although Jaelyn was ready to keel over when they decided to call it a day, she was certain that her companions could not have followed them this far and at their pace.

While she rested back against a tree, Kalandiin searched the area for anything edible. Since any wood that could be found would be too wet to burn, he foraged for fruits, berries and vegetables. A fire would've been out of the question regardless of the rain that had fallen. It would've been foolish to light one with the drow in the forest, whether they were ahead of them or not. There was still Dresmor to consider also, and that was the last person either one of them wanted to meet out there.

Kalandiin returned a short time later with an arm full of apples, a few pears, an onion and a pocketful of assorted berries.

He knelt next to her, gesturing the food. "Take your pick. Except the onion, that's mine."

She took a pear and an apple and then nodded her head in thanks.

They ate in silence.

The meal was not enough to fill her stomach, but it was enough for sustenence.

"Get your rest." Kalandiin told her sometime afterward. "I'll keep the first watch."

Jaelyn didn't object.

She got into a more comfortable position against the tree trunk, her hand on the hilt of her sword. She tried to sleep light, as Bishop had suggested, but she was far too tired for such a feat. The moment her eyes closed, she fell deep into the land of Nod.

She dreamt of home and death.

_She sat on the prominent cliff outside her home in the mountains, the one that overlooked the land and brought a few small villages into view and the twinkling lights of the sprawling cities further out. Elegy sat beside her, watching as the sun rose and the tiny villages nearby began to stir with life. Jaelyn had always known peace here._

_And just as she began to feel safe and serene, the scene changed alarmingly. The land that stretched out from the cliff began to darken and all around her, things began to transform. Her home vanished and she now stood in the natives' village._

_She turned this way and that, her eyes finally falling on her draconic brother and bond-mate only to find him morphing along with the land._

_The reptilian features shifted and smoothed into familiar sylven ones, violet scales were replaced by gray-toned flesh, and the slit pupil, bright yellow eyes changed into an orb pupil, pale yellow. Silver tinted white hair sprouted from the head. The leather wings folded back and seemed to melt into the body. Then it was the body itself that began to morph. Arms and legs grew long and straight as the body began to lift up into a bi-pedal form. Dark leather armor stretched across the body as it completed its transition._

_Jaelyn found herself staring at her father._

_"You..."_

_Dresmor smiled. "I have come to you with an offer."_

_"I'm not interested." she replied, icily. "Get away from me."_

_He gave a small laugh. "Oh, but you will be interested. Quite interested, for I know how much you value your friends'."_

_Jaelyn reached for her sword. The moment she drew the weapon, Dresmor snapped his fingers and it vanished from her hand._

_"So eager to kill me." he noted, amusement in his voice. "Your own father. See, we're not much different from each other. Both of us are willing to sacrifice our own kin for a greater purpose."_

_"You go to the hells!" she growled at him. "I am nothing like you! And you are not my father!"_

_"Our shared blood would say otherwise." he replied, calmly and then waved a dismissive hand. "But enough about that. My offer is this: sacrifice yourself for my little experiment with the Heart of this island. In exchange, I will let your friends live."_

_"Let them? You will go through me first to get to them!"_

_"I will not have to go through you to get to them." Dresmor stated. "I have already forseen what will happen."_

_"What're you talking about?"_

_"The future." he said as he began to circle around her, his gaze locked with hers. "They will not survive the coming battle."_

_"You can't know that. The future isn't written in stone. You-"_

_"Would you like to see how they die?" he cut her off. "Perhaps that will sway your decision."_

_"Stop it!"_

_Dresmor waved a hand and the environment shifted again. She was still standing in the village, but now everything was burning and there were bodies everywhere, some drow, but most of them native. Screams of agony and fear filled her ears. Natives fled around her and through her, drow following close on their heels. There was still fighting going on between the more brave of the survivors. Then she saw it._

_Jaelyn saw herself facing off with Dresmor, the ancestral sword in her hand and her friends by her side, ready to fight with her._

_"As you can see," the Dresmor beside her said. "You have gotten your hands on my most prized possession. No matter. The power in that sword is limited. It won't be enough to stop me...or to save your friends."_

_She saw the halfling jump into action, slashing away with his rapier at Dresmor. Each attack he made was easily deflected._

_"Ah, fiercely loyal Quin." said Dresmor with a smirk as he watched the fight continue. "Bent on making sure he never lets you down again and to make up for getting your beast companion killed, even if he knows it will never be enough. He gives a very spirited fight, but he tries too hard."_

_At those words, she saw the halfling unleash a combination of attacks on his much more skilled and stronger opponent. It all ended with every one of his attacks being parried, the last one allowing Dresmor to push him back. His blade came quick and lethal, swiping the halfling's head from his shoulders. His severed head rolled on the ground and blood fountained out of his neck as his body collapsed._

_Jaelyn let out a horrified, anguished scream the same time her illusionary self did._

_"You bastard!" she shouted at him, tears in her eyes. "You fucking bastard!"_

_She launched herself at him the same time her other self did, but she passed right through him. Her twin clashed with his own in a screech of metal._

_Dresmor chuckled. "Ah, but wait" He pointed to the scene. "There's one more to go."_

_"No." she demanded. "No! Stop this!"_

_"Arrogant, stubborn Bishop." he went on. "The man you love."_

_Jaelyn tried not to watch, but it seemed her eyes had a will of their own. She couldn't look away._

_They fought side by side against her father, their attacks complimentary to each other, in harmony, but hardly affecting their opponent._

_"A different man now." Dresmor noted. "He is willing to put his life in danger, to fight and defend...but only for you. Care to make a guess how his life will end?"_

_"No!" she shouted, her body shaking. "I don't want to see! Enough!"_

_Dresmor smiled as he lifted a finger in the direction of the fight once again. "In sacrifice."_

_Jaelyn's twin unleashed a mad flurry of slashes, Bishop's sword coming in directly behind hers each time. Dresmor blocked most, but took a small wound from one. In the end, Dresmor had disarmed her, sending her sword far out of reach. He followed up quick with a thrust that would have ended her life. Instead, she was shoved out of the weapon's path and the blade meant for her chest sheathed itself to the hilt in the ranger's gut. Dresmor shoved him off the blade._

_He lay in the dirt in a pool of his own blood, nearing death. His eyes were locked on her twin and his lips parted as he desperately tried to tell her something, a trail of blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. But the only thing that came was his final breath, and then he grew still._

_Jaelyn and her twin dropped to their knees, and while the twin wailed in despair and sobbed over the ranger's lifeless body, the Jaelyn that watched shook her head, refusing to believe any of this._

_"No." she said. "This will not happen. I won't let it."_

_"There's more." Dresmor informed her. "Watch."_

_Her twin had grown utterly still, then her hands clenched into fists. Without a word, she got to her feet and dashed to her fallen sword. The moment she picked it up, it began to glow more brightly with its power and enveloped her in an aura of dark violet. When she looked up, there was an expression of utter hatred on her face, and her eyes had changed. The pale green was now a deep, glowing red. The sword had taken her._

_She snarled and flew at Dresmor with impossible speed. The blade whirled and blurred through an array of attacks, Dresmor struggling to keep up with her._

_"You see," he said. "No matter what choice you make, it will not end well for you. Your fate is sealed, but you can save your friends."_

_She got to her feet and faced him. "I have made my decision."_

_"A noble gesture, giving your life for your friends. I am sure they will come to thank you for it." Dresmor stated, impassively._

_"No." Jaelyn said. "You can go to the hells. I am not going to be your test subject. This, what you've shown me, is not going to happen. I won't let it, I swear it on my life and the lives of my friends. You will not touch them!"_

_Dresmor sneered at her. "So be it. The blood of your friends will be on your hands."_

_Before she could react, Dresmor lifted his hand and a bolt of energy shot out of it and into her._

Jaelyn was jolted from the dream.

She shot up from her spot against the tree with a cry, her eyes darting everywhere. She calmed herself enough to realize she was still in the forest.

She fell back against the trunk as she tried to calm her racing heart. That was by far the most bizarre and horrendous dream she had ever had. The ominous feel of it still lingered, as did the emotions. She wondered if it truly was only a dream. It had a strange clarity to it that none of her other dreams had ever carried. Had Dresmor found a way into her mind?

"That must have been some nightmare."

She lurched at the voice and her gaze zeroed in on its owner.

Kalandiin was hovering nearby, not particularly concerned, only curious.

She shook her head, tears burning her eyes. "It was terrible. It was Dresmor...he came to me with an offer, then he showed me how my friends would die if I refused. That dream felt strange, almost real..."

She paused, a stange look coming over her face. When she spoke again, it was mostly to herself.

"Was it real? Was it really him?" She looked at Kalandiin. "Does he have the power to get into people's head like that?"

Kalandiin stared out into the forest. "Only when he's close to his intended target. It takes a lot of out him, though. That's a good thing. It means he will need to rest now."

Jaelyn shook her head and shuddered. "It was real...? Can he also see the future? What he showed me...will it happen?"

Kalandiin looked at her. "To my knowledge, he has no power that would allow him a glimpse into the future. Whatever he showed you, he was merely preying on your fears, manipulating you into doing what he wants."

She only nodded.

Jaelyn stood up and stretched. "How long have I been asleep?"

"Four hours." Kalandiin replied. "Since you are now awake, you can keep watch while I take my rest."

Jaelyn nodded. She had no desire to return to sleep even if she was still a bit tired.

She began to walk around their camp to clear her mind while Kalandiin found a comfortable enough place on the ground to fall asleep.

Jaelyn spent her watch thinking about her companions, wishing they were there so she knew that they were okay. Though she tried not to think about the dream, the images of Quin and Bishop dying kept flashing across her mind.

She told herself that none of those things in her dream were going to happen, but the doubt was there. That dream had felt real, too real. There was a chance that what she saw could come to pass. Perhaps Dresmor was warning her of the future, not because he had actually foreseen it, but was simply informing her that he would kill her friends if she didn't accept his offer.

Jaelyn knew what she had to do. She had to prevent her friends from fighting at her side, she had to keep them away from Dresmor anyway she could. Too much was at stake, too many lives, too many she loved. If it came down to it, if there was no other way... She would keep them safe, even if it meant her life in the end.

She looked up to see that the sky was lightening. It was time they moved on.

Jaelyn awoke Kalandiin and the two set out again for the village.

They reached it just after midday.

**xxxxxxxxxx**

Bishop returned to consciousness at the halfling's insistent shaking of his body and calling of his name. He slowly opened his eyes to find Quin hovering over him.

"Finally." Quin groused. "I thought you'd never wake up."

The ranger blinked at him, groggily. His mind was fuzzy, but the halfling's words sunk in almost immediately.

He shot up from his spot and shook off the vertigo that followed. "What? How long have I been out?"

Quin looked thoughtful. "Oh, about five hours."

"_Five hours_?" he shouted. He looked very much like he wanted to strangle Quin. "Godsdamnit...I told you to wake me in _one_ hour, you useless half-man!"

Quin frowned. "I tried. I spent an entire hour trying to wake you up, but you wouldn't budge. I actually thought you were dead or dying, kept checking your pulse to make sure you were alive. It's your own fault!"

"Never mind." Bishop grumbled as he got to his feet a bit unsteadily.

His aches and pains were still present, albeit a bit dulled now. His left shoulder was the worst of it. It throbbed, perhaps less than it did earlier, but it was stiff when he moved it. The rest he'd gotten had renewed his strength, but that wouldn't matter much. It was going to take all that strength just to reach the village in time.

"Let's go." he said. "We've got a long ways to travel and we're short on time. No stopping."

Quin saluted him with that annoying grin of his. "Yes, sir!"

With that, he hurried off along the course they had been on before, the ranger starting off after him.

"Get behind me, half-man." he ordered. "We don't need you getting us lost."

"Hey, I'm not going to get us lost." Quin called over his shoulder, his pace never relenting. "I have a pretty good sense of direction, you know."

"I'm not taking any chances." Bishop replied. "Get behind me, or else."

Quin finally stopped and turned around, frowning. "Fine. But you don't have to be so bossy. Or threatening."

"I don't have to be, but I am." the ranger said as he passed Quin. "Deal with it."

Quin scowled at him, and under his breath he muttered "Jeez, what an asshole."

"I heard that."

The halfling's scowl deepened as he followed behind Bishop, trying to match his pace. He really didn't know how the ranger could've heard that; he had barely even spoken.

"How'd you learn to hear so well, anyway?" Quin asked for the sake of conversation.

"By being deprived of sight."

Quin looked at him in confusion. "What do you mean? You're not blind...or are you?"

Before Bishop could answer, Quin stood up on his toes and waved his hand in front of the ranger's face. Bishop smacked it away.

"Knock it off. I'm not blind."

Quin grinned. "As secretive as you are, I wouldn't be surprised if you were blind and just never said anything about it."

The ranger made no comment.

"Well, what did you mean by 'deprived of sight' then?"

"Exactly what I said."

"Explain."

"I'm not in the mood for talk, half-man. So shut your yap before I do it for you."

Quin was oblivious to the threat. Something else had caught his curiosity. "You don't like talking about yourself much, do you? Why is that?"

Bishop groaned.

Their travel had only just started, but already he could tell it was going to be a long, agonizing journey.

"Oh, I know! It's be-"

"No, you don't know." the ranger cut him off. "You can keep making all the wild stabs in the dark you want, you'll never hit the mark."

"But-"

"_Shut up_." Bishop growled at him.

Quin sighed. "I'm just trying to make conversation. You know, to pass the time. Otherwise this is going to be a boring couple of hours."

"Too bad. Talking will give away our position if the drow happen to be close by. And besides that, it's hard to hear what's around when you're prattling on."

"Not for you."

"With your big mouth, it is. Now, keep quiet."

"Hey! I don't have a big mouth!"

Bishop glared at him. "Am I going to have to gag you?"

Quin threw up his hands. "All right, all right. Sheesh."

Blessed silence followed those words. Thankfully, it lasted a good portion of their travels.

There was a light set of tracks Bishop had been following since leaving their camp behind. They were Kalandiin's without a doubt. Nothing of Jaelyn was present, but then nothing ever was. She had skill in keeping her path concealed. It had crossed his mind that Kalandiin might have done something to her, but the tracks were leading to the village. He definitely wouldn't be going there if he'd done something. And more than likely, there would be evidence of it left behind; a strange trail of tracks or maybe a splotch of blood somewhere.

He shook his head at his concern. It was ridiculous. Kalandiin was one drow; she'd have no trouble dealing with him if he tried something. She could handle herself.

_Stop acting like a pathetic, love-sick adolescent_, he inwardly scolded himself.

A distant, soft collection of sounds interrupted his thoughts.

Bishop stopped and strained his hearing, trying to bring the sounds into clarity.

Quin stared at him with inquiry on his face. "What-"

The ranger held up his hand and hushed the halfling silent.

There were several male voices, speaking in a language he didn't understand, but a language that was familiar all the same. He'd heard it plenty since arriving on the island.

He looked off into the distance. "They're near."

"How do you know?" Quin asked.

"I can hear them."

"You can? I don't hear a thing."

Without a word, Bishop moved onward, but Quin noted that he wasn't taking the same southerly direction they had been on since they'd left camp, the one that led them to the village.

Quin followed along, trying to keep up.

"Where are we going?"

"To see what we can see."

"Isn't that dangerous? We could get caught!"

"Don't be stupid. We aren't getting that close." the ranger replied. "Just stick close and keep your mouth shut."

Half a mile through the forest later and the halfling could now hear what the ranger had heard not too long ago: drow voices. The owners of the voices could be seen now as well through the trees.

Human and halfling took cover behind a tree to spy on the enemy.

The drow were taking a rest at the edge of a stream, taking water from it and eating whatever food they had brought with them. Others were just standing idly or checking their equipment. There was a good number of them as Kalandiin had told them, about thirty, probably more. Dresmor was not among them.

Where he was, neither of them knew. He could still be at the temple, which was unlikely, or he could also be on his way and the drow had stopped to await his arrival. The village wasn't far now. They wouldn't attack without him.

Bishop was hoping, almost praying that it was latter. The little wheels inside his head were already churning out a plan to delay the drow. All he needed was the time to set it up.

He grabbed Quin's shoulder to draw his attention.

"Stay here." he whispered to him. "And stay out of sight. Watch them. If they look like they're getting ready to move, come find me."

"What? Where are you going?"

The ranger rolled his eyes at Quin's endless questions. "I got a plan, but no time to explain it. Do as I say. I'll be a mile or so away, on their path."

Before Quin could speak, Bishop moved away from the tree and, keeping his cover among the trees, began moving silently to the south again.

Quin watched him go, shaking his head. He wished for once that this man would share his plans so one knew what to expect.

He looked back at the troop of drow and kept his watch.

Meanwhile, Bishop sprinted through a mile of forest, keeping just off to the side of the route the drow were taking. When he came to a desirable enough area, he studied the ground for the proper places to lay out the bow traps he had in mind.

He then began searching for the materials needed to contruct them. He collected an armload of flexible and sturdy sticks of different sizes and as much vine as he could get his hands on.

He sharpened several sticks into sharp points with his sword and then constructed a few makeshift bows out of the flexible sticks he'd found and some vine. They weren't perfect, but they didn't need to be. They just had to shoot.

With that out of the way, Bishop began the most time consuming part of his task: contructing and setting up the trap itself and its trigger system.

There were to be four traps in all, set up randomly on the ground along the path. He would've liked to set up more, but there wasn't enough time. He supposed four would be enough to slow them down some. If they were put on alert and no longer knew what to expect on their path, their pace would slow. At the very least, some of them would be injured or, even better, killed.

It took a little over an hour to construct the traps. When they were done, he set about concealing them and their triggers as naturally as possible. The fact that the traps were constructed of natural materials helped even further in keeping them camoflauged.

The halfling had yet to come, so Bishop made use of the time to make one last trap.

A couple of feet ahead of the bow traps, he set up a swinging log trap in one of the trees, setting the trigger across the path, which was then concealed as the others had been. The log wasn't that big, but it would do some damage.

With his task complete, he decided to make his way back to the halfling.

He found him where he'd left him, hunkered down behind a tree.

"Where have you been?" Quin hissed at him in greeting. "It's been over an hour."

Bishop smirked. "Leaving a surprise for our friends. Let's go."

When they were far enough away from the drow, Quin asked "What kind of surprise?"

"Traps." the ranger replied. "If we're lucky, they'll trigger every last one of them."

"How many did you set up?"

"Five."

"In one hour? That's all you could manage?"

The look Bishop gave him made Quin cringe. "I just meant-"

"Traps take time to set up, especially when you're only one person and don't have the materials at hand for it."

"Aren't we going to wait and see if they trigger them?"

"No. As much as I'd love to watch them walk into it, there's no time. As long as the drow stay on their route, those traps should slow them down."

Quin nodded. "What kind of traps are they?"

"Bow traps and one swinging log."

"Swinging log?" the halfling laughed. "That's pretty primitive."

"Who cares how primitive it is if it works?"

Quin silently conceded his point.

As they continued on their trek, he made a silent prayer to Tymora.

_If you're listening, we could really use your attention right now. We need all the luck we can get._

The halfling's prayer was granted.


	41. Chapter 41: The Eve of Battle

**xxxxxx**

* * *

**Chapter Forty-One:**

**The Eve of Battle**

**xxxxxx**

**The** moment Jaelyn and Kalandiin stepped foot in the village, they drew the attention of almost every native within sight.

They got about ten feet toward Olland's hut before they found themselves surrounded by the people. They were bombarded with questions and exclamations of worry and anger. Some of them glared at Kalandiin and demanded an explanation for his presence.

Jaelyn held up her hands to get them to quiet down and when they finally settled she told them everything in a calm and level manner.

The news caused a ripple of panic and fear in the gathered natives. Before she could get her next word in, they began shouting amongst each other again. Questions came from every native mouth, and then one of them suggested that they simply flee. Jaelyn saw in many eyes and heard from many mouths that this seemed the wisest course of action.

"No!" she shouted over the ruckus. "Stop!"

The tone of her voice caused every head to turn in her direction and the crowd grew silent.

She looked at each of them, her face stern. "You can't run away from this! The leader of the drow is coming for the very Heart of this island, that very thing you and your ancestors have been guarding for so long. It's the very life of this island as I understand it. Would you truly just give up and let him take it after everything this island has provided for you? This is your home!"

A slow, astonished murmur passed through the crowd.

"Why does he want the Heart?" someone inquired.

"Because it's not just the life of this island. It's special. It carries power, a force my homeland calls magic. It can be harnessed and used for destruction, and it has been a power Dresmor has sought for a long time. He would use it to destroy an entire race outside your world...out of hatred. But he will destroy all of you before that. Running away will not save you."

"But how can we defeat him?" a man asked.

"You won't. Dresmor is not your focus. He is mine. You will stand and fight against his warriors to defend your home, this island, and your lives."

The crowd seemed to have at least calmed down a bit, though Jaelyn could still see many anxious faces that still showed the desire to flee. Yet they didn't move. Scared as they were, it seemed they understood what had to be done.

"What must we do?" a young woman inquired.

"First and foremost, gather the children and any who are not strong or healthy enough to fight. Take them far away from here. There are some ruins to the south of the village. I think that would be a good place to take them. Make sure to have food and water for them."

The woman nodded and set off to do exactly that. However, she paused momentarily to look over her shoulder at Jaelyn.

"Do we have a chance?"

Jaelyn nodded without hesitation. "Yes, I truly believe so."

The woman smiled and then hurried off.

Jaelyn returned her attention to the crowd. "The rest of you should arm yourselves and gather at the council longhouse. Olland and I will be there shortly to explain the battle plan."

The crowd dispersed and went about their task. Some glanced over their shoulders at her in uncertainty.

Jaelyn let out a long, deep sigh.

Kalandiin stared at her. He was smirking.

"Impressive." he said. "In the short time that I've known you, you never seemed like one who could take charge, and yet within a few minutes of entering this village, you were able to calm a people facing certain death and set them about to prepare for war. The blood of a leader surely runs through your veins. Are you sure it isn't Gulaonar who is your father? You reminded me of him just then."

Jaelyn glared at him. "They don't face certain death. They were trained hard by me and my companions. They have a chance. And I am certainly no leader. I did what needed to be done and in the only manner I knew how. If you'd looked at some of their faces, you would've seen that some still want to leave."

"And I'm certain that they won't." Kalandiin replied. "They know there's no where to run. Their only option is to fight."

Jaelyn shook her head on the matter. "Come on, Olland's place is nearby." She looked around. "I wonder where Gulaonar is."

The two drow continued on, heading for the largest shelter in the village. As usual, they were met at the entrace by Grimnar, the last remaining personal guard of Olland. The man's blue eyes zeroed in on Kalandiin. With a sneer, he raised his new sword, pointing it under the drow's chin. Kalandiin was unmoved by the threat, a thin smile on his face.

"Who is this?" Grimnar demanded of Jaelyn, keeping his gaze on the male drow. "And why, by the island, have you brought him here?"

"There's no time for explanations, Grimnar." Jaelyn replied impatiently. "Let us pass."

"You may pass. He may not."

"I need him with me."

"No!" he growled. "He is one of them! He may not pass!"

Jaelyn set him with a furious look. "I can vouch for him. He _was_ one of them, but no longer. He wants to help." Only to save his own ass, but Jaelyn didn't think it wise to mention that.

Grimnar kept his sword in place and refused to take her word.

"We don't have time for this." Jaelyn growled at him. "Get out of the way or I'll remove you forcably."

Grimnar's eyes flicked over to her and narrowed. He opened his mouth to protest further, but Jaelyn hooked his ankle with her foot and then shoved him. The large man flailed backwards, landing on his backside.

Jaelyn pushed Kalandiin through the curtained threshold of Olland's shelter, following behind him.

The leader of the natives was seated in his chair, deep in conversation with his wife. He looked up when the two drow entered.

Seeing her with the enemy, Olland quickly arose from his chair, looking between them in confusion.

"What is this?"

Jaelyn looked at him, grimly. "The drow march on your village as we speak."

His eyes widened. For a moment, he simply stared off at nothing, his face creasing with fear and then he fell back into his chair. His wife took hold of his hand, a worried expression coming over her face.

"Then...that is it." Olland said, his voice strained. "There is no time to prepare."

Jaelyn frowned and shook her head. "They are half a day away at least. There is time. What there _isn't_ time for is being afraid and panicking."

But it seemed her words weren't getting through. Olland merely sat there, staring, his face full of horror.

"We have no plan. They have not been trained enough...That is it. We have come to our end."

Jaelyn's hands curled into fists at her sides, her teeth clenching. "Enough! You're their leader! Pull yourself together! They need you!"

Her breath came out uneven and she trembled slightly.

Why must it be her? Why must she be the one that had to pull everyone together? Why couldn't they pull themselves together for once? Why couldn't they understand that she was just as afraid as they were? Her life was at risk, too. The lives of her friends and her sister, they were all at risk!

The dream flashed in her mind again. She saw Quin's head being severed, she saw Bishop laying dead in a pool of his own blood. Her heart clenched. A new image formed. She could see a sword implaing baby Baeylene, a sneering, laughing drow at its hilt.

Jaelyn swayed backwards, grabbing the shelter's support pole to steady herself. Kalandiin looked at her, raising a brow.

"Is something wrong? You look ill..."

Jaelyn shook her head to rid her mind of those horrid images and tried to calm herself. "No, I'm fine."

The task of pulling everyone together, the responsibility of it fell to her because it had to. There was no choice in the matter, and despite her own mounting fear, she would see it done.

Jaelyn addressed Olland's wife. "I need you to take your children and my sister to the stone ruins south of the village. I have already tasked one woman with gathering the village children and taking them there. Please, join her."

The woman looked at her for a moment and then turned her gaze to her husband. She squeezed his hand and he nodded to her, distractedly. She then stood from her chair and moved to embrace and kiss her husband.

Jaelyn's heart stitched painfully. She deeply wished her friends were with her. She needed them. More than anything, she needed to know they were okay. They were out there with the drow, with Dresmor. For all she knew, they could have been caught by them. Just knowing they were okay would be enough to sever that deep fear threatening to overwhelm her.

She had to be strong. She couldn't think about them like that.

Olland's wife withdrew to the adjoining room and gathered the children. She was forced to carry her infant daughter and Baeylene in her arms. A third child, a young boy of four or five, was old enough to walk and followed along after his mother as she returned to Olland.

The couple spoke in their native language, exchanged more intimacies and then Olland embraced his son and placed a kiss on his daughter's forehead. With that, Olland's wife left the shelter, the boy clinging to her skirt in tears.

Jaelyn sat down across from Olland, whose face still held its horror, but was now accompanied by despair.

"It's hard." she spoke to him in drow. "All of it. But you can't falter. You can't give in to your fears. Your people and your family need you. They are relying on you."

Olland looked up at her. "How can one be strong in such a hopeless situation?"

"It isn't hopeless." she replied. "I haven't come with just bad news. I have also come with a plan to defeat the drow. Your people have a chance. I am confident in our victory."

Olland remained silent for a long moment, staring off in his distracted manner. Then he breathed and set his gaze on her. It was the gaze Jaelyn had been hoping to see. Therein was the returning confidence and strength of the leader he was. It took a great deal of weight off Jaelyn's shoulders.

He stood up from his chair. "Then I will gather the village together and we will discuss this plan."

Jaelyn smiled and got to her feet. "It's already being done. Let's go."

Olland stepped toward the threshold, but paused when he saw Kalandiin. A puzzled expression came across his face and then he looked at Jaelyn.

"Who is this drow and why is he here?"

"This is Kalandiin." she replied. "He has forsaken his people and has agreed to help yours. He's very knowledgable about the drow's battle plan. Without him, a plan to outmatch the drows' would not have been possible."

Olland stared at him again. The drow stared back. After a moment, Olland nodded to him.

"You have my gratitude." he said. "And I'm certain the gratitude of the people will follow by battle's end."

Kalandiin only smirked.

The trio stepped out of the shelter and got halfway across the village when they saw Gulaonar's ghostly form moving toward them from the south end of the village.

He set his ghost eyes on Jaelyn.

"You've returned safely." he said. "Where's Quin and the ranger?"

"They're on their way."

"And Akereth?"

"Dead."

"_What_? How?" Gulaonar exclaimed in shock.

"Long story. We don't have time."

"But..." Gulaonar faltered and finally noticed the male drow. "Kalandiin?"

The drow grinned. "Ah, good to see you again, Gulaonar. It's been an age."

Gulaonar frowned and turned to Jaelyn again. "Why is he here? Have you captured him?"

"No," replied Jaelyn. "He's no longer with the drow. He's helping us."

"You cannot trust him."

"We don't have a choice, and as it turns out, neither does Kalandiin."

"What? Explain."

She sighed. "It's a long story. It was either this or death by Dresmor for him."

Gulaonar simmered at Kalandiin. "Very well, but I'll be keeping my eye on you."

Kalandiin grinned again. "No, you won't."

The ghosts form began to darken in anger. The eyes glowed red. "I will."

"Well, perhaps for now. But that will change when our people arrive."

Gulaonar's dark form wavered and returned to its misty translucence.

"What is he talking about?"

"The drow are marching on the village." Jaelyn informed him. "They're about half a day away."

Gulaonar's eyes grew wide. "What? You're certain?"

She nodded. "I spent a good deal of time imprisoned in their temple. Yes, I'm certain."

"Imprisoned? That's where you've been? How did this happen?"

Jaelyn frowned with much frustration. "We don't have time for all these long stories...and endless questions. I've gotten the natives assembled at the council longhouse. We're heading there now to discuss the plan."

"Plan? What plan? I hope it isn't anything Kalandiin came up with."

The three began heading toward the longhouse where already a good number of natives were waiting. Some were still running about the village trying to get the rest together.

"No." Jaelyn replied to Gulaonar. She smirked. "Actually, it was Bishop who came up with it."

The ghost frowned. "Which doesn't change the fact that it shouldn't be trusted."

Jaelyn paused and turned to Gulaonar, a stern look on her face. "It's better than no plan at all. He could've easily chosen not to help at all, considering that's what he's been saying since he arrived here. The fact that he, of all people, came up with a plan that will likely end in a victory for the natives is proof enough that he's trying to do something right for once. So, get off his back!"

Gulaonar said nothing for some moments, merely stared at her and at the memories that swirled about her, brought up by her emotions. He saw that many things had changed between her and this man. He understood that although the ranger's choice to provide a plan had not been made out of concern for the natives, they would benefit from it all the same.

"I apologize." he finally said, his tone gentle and sincere. "I misspoke. It simply never occured to me that he could be capable of...good intentions."

She shrugged coldly and walked on.

Kalandiin sidled up next to the ghost. "It's probably not a good idea to cross her when it comes to that man. I saw her gut one of our people who tortured him. It wasn't pretty."

He laughed at Gulaonar's shocked expression and then followed after Jaelyn.

When they all arrived at the longhouse, the gathered natives parted to let them through.

All the heads of the main families were seated at the council dais, awaiting Olland. The leader took his place among them and once everyone was gathered inside, he began.

"As some of you are already aware, the drow are marching for our village as we speak. They are but half a day away, so we must prepare for them now. Jaelyn has come back to us with a plan that will lead us to victory. So, I turn the floor over to her."

Jaelyn nodded and stepped forward. She faced the assemblage.

"They will come with more than half of their true force. In number, around thirty or forty swordsman, crossbowmen and archers. Your force is fifty to sixty strong. You have them outnumbered which is good, but you also must remember that they are skilled in killing. What we have to do is weaken their force further before they breach the village. Their skill won't matter if they are overwhelmed.

"The drow will attack on three fronts. Swordsman and possibly a few archers will attack from the north and the south. The remaining archers and crossbowmen will attack from the west. With the element of surprise, it should be easy enough to take some of them out. What will happen is a small number of you will be hidden in the trees and brush just outside each area the drow plan to attack. Some of you will be armed with a device called acidglobes. These little glass balls are filled with corrosive acid, and will be thrown at the archers and crossbowmen in each of the three groups. Don't throw them too early, though. Wait until they are close enough for the globes to have a good impact. A few of you will also be armed with bows. The moment the acidglobes have been thrown, your job is to follow them with arrows. Keep your attacks to the crossbowmen and archers only. But be warned, some of the drow will probably have acidglobes with them as well. Try your best to take them out if you see them.

"This same attack will have to be copied on the west side, but with a larger number of you. With the threat of the archers and crossbowmen minimized, the fight with the swordsman will be made a bit simpler. Those of you trained in close combat will be split into three groups and placed at each area. A few archers will be placed on rooftops to aid you or to take out any remaining archers and crossbowmen. Archers, be aware of the north cliff over the village. The last time the drow attacked the village, they used it as a vantage point and no doubt they'll do it again. If you see them, make that your first priority."

Jaelyn took a breath and looked over the natives, who hadn't made so much as a sneeze since she began talking.

"I won't lie to you." she said, seriously. "There's a good chance some of you will be injured or killed. That's the nature of battle and no great purpose is without sacrifice. Be strong. Go into battle fearless and determined. Show these drow what you are made of and what you are fighting for."

Gulaonar floated toward her. "Why have I not been included in this plan?"

Jaelyn turned to him with a regretful look. "Because the drow are prepared for you. They're wearing some kind of pendants made from the same orbs that are around their temple, the ones that repel you."

"Bastards!" Gulaonar spat. "I should've known."

"Well, you can go to the ruins in the south and keep the children company. Your presence will keep them calm. You've been protecting these people for a long time. Let them protect themselves now."

Gulaonar said nothing, but there was a frown on his face that said everything. He wasn't pleased with playing babysitter in the midst of war.

Olland arose from his seat. "What of Dresmor?"

Jaelyn turned to him and smiled slightly. "He's mine."

"But-" he began to protest, but Gulaonar cut him off.

"No, she's right." he said. "Leave the leader of the drow to her and her companions."

"No." Jaelyn said. "Just me."

"What? Why? With three of you, battling him would be made a bit easier."

"Because I don't want them anywhere near him, that's why." she snapped. "You told me before all this began that it would be my battle."

"I didn't mean solely yours."

She shrugged. "Maybe you didn't, but that's the way it's going to be. I choose to do it alone."

Gulaonar frowned. "Don't be foolish! You can't possibly think you can handle him alone before you've gotten that sword. It's suicide!"

"It's _my_ choice! It's _my_ fight!" she yelled at him, red flashing in the depths of her eyes.

Remembering the consequences of anger from both Bishop's lesson and her dream, she calmed herself. "I won't bring them into it."

"Jaelyn, listen to me-"

"I'm done talking about it. My choice has been made."

Gulaonar began to protest more, but she ignored him, turning her attention to the natives again.

"So, you have the plan before you and time enough to set it into action. Olland will be assigning commanders to each of the three teams, ones who have proven themselves in skill and decision making. They will be the ones giving you your orders in battle. Do as they say, for they are also the ones making decisions that will keep you alive."

She turned to Olland. "That's it. The floor's yours now. I have to go prepare for battle myself."

Olland nodded. "Thank you, Jaelyn, for all you have done."

Jaelyn smiled, nodded and began making her way out of the longhouse. Native gazes followed her with admiration and respect. They parted to let her through.

Gulaonar followed.

Once outside, Jaelyn took a deep breath of air, glad that that was all over with and out of the way.

She made for her shelter, a place she hadn't seen in what felt like years, but which was in actuality only a few days.

She was brought up short by Gulaonar's form standing in front of her out of nowhere.

Jaelyn blinked at him in surprise. "What?"

"We are not done talking."

She rolled her eyes. "I don't have time right now. Have you forgotten that war looms over us?"

"Do not fight him alone, Jaelyn. I am begging you. If you attack him without the power of that sword, he will kill you."

"I said no."

"Why are you refusing help?" he shouted at her. "Why are you refusing to let anyone help?"

"Because I'm not going to watch them die!" she shouted back. "I've already lost Feral. I won't lose them, too."

"Feral?"

"The drow killed him."

Gulaonar's form rippled and a soft wailing sound came from it. He shook his head.

"I didn't know. I'm sorry."

"Well, now you know."

"But your companions are skilled and capable." Gulaonar pressed. "They will not have to fight long against him. Just enough time for you to get your hands on his sword."

"Yes, and in that amount of time Quin could have his head taken off or Bishop could be lying dead in a pool of his own blood. I'm not taking that chance. I won't let it happen!"

She was trembling and tears made a path down her cheeks. She wiped the annoying things away with the back of her hand.

"So, you will face certain death to protect them?"

"Yes." she replied with no hesitation whatsoever. "I love them both with all my heart. I would die for them."

"And do you think they would allow you to do that?"

She shrugged. "Nothing else can be done about it. I'm not letting them fight with me. If they try to, I'll fight them off myself."

Gulaonar sighed in frustration. "You are as stubborn as Dresmor!"

Jaelyn frowned. "Please don't compare me to him."

"It's the truth..." Gulaonar paused as he realized something. "You mentioned Quin getting his head taken off and the ranger laying dead in a pool of his own blood. That's rather detailed, isn't it? Usually one would just say they could be killed."

"Well, I had a rather detailed mightmare about it. Dresmor came to me in the dream with an offer: I give myself over to him as a test subject for some spell he has in mind to harness the magic in the island in exchange for my friends' lives. He showed me what would happen if I refused."

"He has the ability to enter someone's mind like that, to manipulate a dream, but he cannot see the future." Gulaonar said. "He is tricking you and you are playing into his hands. You would make it so easy for him to succeed."

"What is that supposed to mean?" she demanded in outrage.

"Don't you see? He knows your weakness. Your friends' lives mean more to you than your own."

"I fail to see how that's a bad thing. It may be an alien concept to you drow, but that's what love is."

"It's not a bad thing in its own right, but Dresmor made it a weakness, a blinding one. You've failed to see what is right in front of you: he has manipulated you into doing exactly what he wants, to sacrifice yourself to him."

"I won't be sorry for loving them. Ever. I don't care how much of a weakness anyone makes it."

"I'm not saying you should be sorry for it, but it doesn't have to be a weakness. You alone hold the power to make sure it doesn't become one. Look at your companions. Quin has survived much since coming here. He made it through drow torture and the horrid things he was forced to become a part of in his imprisonment. He has not been marred by it; it has not changed him and in fact, has made him stronger. Bishop...well, he simply knows how to survive. He's taken whatever life has thrown at him and given it back tenfold. Life has made him cold-hearted, but there is no denying that it has also made him strong. Give your companions more credit, Jaelyn. They are beyond capable. The three of you together make a mighty force. Only with their help do you stand a chance of getting Dresmor's sword."

Jaelyn shook her head. "They could die."

"Yes, they could, as could you and all the others, but you can't allow yourself that fear, not now." he said. "Let it go and trust in their ability. They have proven it more than enough."

"I..." she sighed. "I'll think about it."

With that, Jaelyn disappeared into her shelter.

Gulaonar stood there for a moment.

He knew she would likely consider it for only a minute and then decide to keep to her original decision. It was just how she was. She just couldn't allow herself to put her friends in danger. She had an enormous heart, but she was far too stubborn for her own good.

However, Gulaonar knew someone just as stubborn as her, if not more so. If anyone could change her mind, it was him.

**xxxxxxxxxx**

Quin and Bishop reached the village well after dark to find it more lively than they had ever seen it.

Natives were running around busily all over the place, performing different tasks; some of them were even performing more than one task at a time. At one end of the village, men were performing drills, conducted by their commanders. There was a section where blades were being sharpened. A man ran back and forth carrying a bundle of sharpened swords to unarmed warriors and then rushed back with another bundle of weapons that needed to be seen to. A group of men were readying arrows and stringing bows. On the east side of the village, women were busy cooking up enough food for everyone with their weapons strapped at their hips. A handful of men and women whose duties had been seen to were huddled around near the cooks, taking their meal, perhaps their last. They didn't speak. In fact, it seemed like no one was speaking unless they had to, and there was a grim atmosphere hanging over the village. A lot of faces had worried and wary expressions. Many of them kept glancing toward the forest, expecting the drow to come bursting into the village.

As it was, the presence of the halfling and the human caused a stir. Many stopped what they were doing momentarily to stare at them in fear until they realized they were allies.

"Sheesh." Quin spoke as he glanced around. "I've never seen them like this."

Bishop grunted. "Looks like the drow lit a fire under them."

"Which one? Ours or the ones in the forest?"

"Both."

They got as far as the village center where they were met by Gulaonar.

"Jaelyn's been worried about the both of you." he said in greeting. "It's good to see that you made it here safely. Tell me, did you run across the drow? Do you know how close they are?"

"They've been delayed. They'll probably be here at dawn." replied Bishop.

"Delayed? What do you mean?"

The ranger smirked. "Left them a surprise in the forest. Traps. It'll likely slow them down."

"Likely? You don't know for sure?"

"I didn't stick around to see if they triggered them, no." Bishop replied in a snappish tone. "There was no time for that. We're just lucky I had the time to set up the traps in the first place."

Gulaonar nodded. "I see. It's something, at least. I'll see to some scouting in a bit. It's the least I can do since I won't be able to do much else. Well, there isn't much for either of you to do right now, either, at least not in any preparations. Jaelyn took care of everything the moment she got to the village. There is a matter, however, that needs your attention, Bishop."

The ranger rose a brow. "What now?"

"A moment." the ghost replied and then turned his attention to Quin. "You should probably get something to eat and whatever rest you can before dawn."

"Ah, I get it; it's a private matter. Well, you don't have to tell me twice!" the halfling piped. "I'm starving, anyway!"

With that, Quin hurried off to where the delicious aroma of roasting meat was coming from.

The departed drow faced the ranger.

"Let's talk, you and I." Gulaonar insisted.

"I'm not in the mood for conversation, least of all with you. So just get to the point."

Gulaonar ignored his tone. "As I recall, I helped you once with Jaelyn, now it's time you returned the favor."

"That favor was repaid when I refrained from killing that little bastard of a native. Whatever the problem is, I'm not interested. Go find someone else."

"If there were anyone else capable of the task, I wouldn't be bothering with you, believe me." Gulaonar replied, acidically. "Besides, I think you will be quite interested, as it involves Jaelyn and a certain foolish but well-intentioned plan she has for the battle."

Bishop sighed in frustration. It was always something with that damn drow.

"What kind of trouble does she plan on getting herself into _this_ time?"

"She plans to fight Dresmor on her own. She doesn't want you or Quin to be involved in the fight."

"Which was what had been planned in the first place, as I recall. You said it yourself, she's the only one that can fight him."

"Yes, _when_ she has possession of his sword and the powers within it." Gulaonar replied. "She needs your help to get it. But she is adamant about fighting him alone, whether she has it or not."

"Why? She should know by now that she won't stand a chance against him without that sword. It's been drilled into her head enough."

"That's exactly the problem. She _does_ know this, but she still insists on doing it alone." Gulaonar shook his head, dismally. "Dresmor came to her in a dream with an offer. If she sacrificed herself for his purpose, then he would allow you and Quin to live. If she refused...well, he showed her exactly what he would do to the both of you with the false pretense that it was what the future will hold."

"It was just a dream."

"It was more than a dream." Gulaonar assured him. "Dresmor can enter a person's mind. He has the ability to do so, but he cannot see the future. I've told her this, but..." He shook his head. "She is so damn stubborn."

"Tell me something I don't know."

"She has already admitted to me that she wouldn't hesitate to give her life for yours or Quin's. I fear that's what she means to do. She can't see that Dresmor is manipulating her. Her only concern is protecting the both of you, regardless of the fact that you are perfectly capable of taking care of yourselves."

Bishop found himself incredibly peeved by all this. He hadn't allowed her to nearly slice open his stomach to save herself from damnation just so she could throw her life away for him and the halfling. That wasn't happening, not on his watch.

"If she means anything to you at all, you have to talk her out of this foolishness." Gulaonar said.

"I'm getting just a little tired of having to save her from her own stupidity." the ranger groused. "Where does she get off thinking we need her protecting us, anyway?"

"Precisely." Gulaonar said with a smile. "Go give her hell. If anyone can talk her out of it, it's you. She'll be in her shelter."

The ranger made a face. "Fine. Is that all?"

"That's it." Gulaonar nodded and then smirked. "Good luck."

The ghost floated away, moving off for the northern approach to the village, probably to do some scouting as he had said.

Bishop headed for Jaelyn's shelter.

The curtain in the threshold was pulled back, and although he stood there, leaning against the frame, she didn't immediately notice him.

She was sitting in a chair with her back angled toward the threshold, immersed in the task of stringing her bow. Every once in a while, she would pause and look toward the foot of her bed where her animal companion always slept. Then she simply went back to her task.

"Well," he finally spoke. "Looks like you had some luck getting this rabble ready for war. I'm surprised."

Jaelyn turned in her chair at the sound of that familiar voice. When her gaze fell on him, he saw a great deal of relief flood her eyes and face.

She very nearly leapt out of her chair.

"Bishop!"

Before he could defend himself, Jaelyn tossed herself against him, wrapping him up in a near rib-shattering embrace.

He tried to pry her off, but she refused to let go.

"Let up, drow, before you break something."

After a moment, she finally loosened her grip on him, but her arms still remained locked around his waist. She rose her head to look up at him.

"Sorry. I'm just glad to see you're okay. Where's Quin?"

Bishop unhooked her arms from around him. "He's off stuffing himself. We need to dis-"

Before he could finish, Jaelyn, out of no where, punched him hard in the arm.

He glared at her. "What the-"

"That's for being stupid!" she cried in slight anger.

"What in the hells are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about you following us after we split up in the forest. You could hardly stand; you needed to rest, not follow after us to make sure Kalandiin didn't do anything. It wasn't only stupid, but insulting as well. If he had tried something, I was perfectly capable of handling him by myself."

To her surprise, Bishop laughed. She frowned, putting her hands on her hips.

"What's so damn funny?"

"It's familiar. After all, it's exactly what you plan to do tomorrow, right? Fight Dresmor on your own to protect your friends when they're perfectly capable of protecting themselves? Looks like I'm not the only one that's stupid."

Her frown deepened. "How do you know about that?"

"The ghost told me. He's all bent out of shape about it." Bishop replied as he passed her and fell back onto her bed, lacing his hands behind his head.

"Damn him!"

"You can't possibly think you can handle Dresmor on your own. That's beyond stupidity."

"And I wasn't aware you had any intention to help." she shot back, unfairly.

He shrugged. "I'm already in too deep. Might as well see it through to the end."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

He was silent for a moment, staring up at the cieling. Then: "I think you know what I mean. Stop trying to change the subject. You fight alone tomorrow, and you're giving that drow exactly what he wants."

"I'll give him what he wants either way. At least if I fight him alone, I'll know you and Quin will be safe."

He sat up and looked at her unpleasantly. "No one's safety is guranteed, regardless of whether or not you accept his offer. Open your eyes. He's manipulating you. Don't play into his damn hands!"

She shook her head, violently. "I don't know what else to do! I just...I _feel_ it, that something bad is going to happen. I won't watch you and Quin die. I won't let it happen!"

"What you feel is fear, nothing else. And don't think for a second that I can't protect myself. I don't need you doing it for me. You want to be someone's savior so bad? Then be the halfling's."

Jaelyn crossed her arms and looked away. "I've made my decision. I'm doing it alone and I don't want to see you anywhere near me when we're out there." She looked back at him, her face hard and stern. "And I mean it. Don't you dare test me on this."

Bishop shook his head in disgust. He got up from the bed and stared down at her, coldly.

"Too damn bad." he growled. "You're going to find me there, whether you like it or not. I didn't go through all this hell, all this fighting and losing, just so you could throw your life away in some foolish act of love. I'll be damned if I let you do this shit to me! "

He stormed out. Jaelyn stared after him in surprise.

After a moment, she let out a shaky sigh and sat down in her chair to resume stringing her bow.

She was not changing her mind.

Just outside her shelter, Bishop shook with anger.

He wanted to hit something. How dare she pull this foolishness on him at the last second. How dare she think he couldn't handle himself.

Who in the hells did she think she was? He didn't need her protecting and defending him. If he hadn't learned to do that himself, he'd wouldn't be there. Simple as that.

Bishop glanced back over his shoulder, saw her through the shelter's threshold, sitting in her chair, back to stringing her bow as if nothing had even happened.

He scowled. _Damn infuriating drow. You're not going to throw your life away for me, I'll make damn sure of that._


	42. Chapter 42: And So It Begins

_All revised chapters have been uploaded for this story. __As always, sorry for the long wait. Enjoy!_

* * *

**Chapter Forty-Two:**

**And So It Begins**

**xxxxxx**

**Jaelyn** awoke from another nightmare.

There was no influence from Dresmor this time, but it had still been of the things he'd shown her before: the death of her friends.

Jaelyn sat up in her bed, trying to rid her mind of the images of blood and death and not having a bit of luck at it.

She got up and crossed her shelter to the threshold where she stood leaning against the frame.

It was still dark out and a glance at the sky told her that only a few hours had past since she had gone to sleep. Dawn was only two hours away. She hoped the drow didn't come before day's light breached the horizon or the plan would be a failure. Darkness would be a major advantage for the drow. Their night vision would give away every native's position, and the element of surprise was the only thing the natives had going for them.

The natives that had gotten enough rest were now up and preparing themselves for the battle, performing drills with others, practicing their archery skills, and readying their weapons. The village was eerily quiet still. No one spoke.

The quiet seemed so out of place; so _wrong_. As long as she had spent here, she had mostly known the place to be joyous and festive. The drow had changed this place, not for the better, and Jaelyn knew that it would change even further after the battle was over. They would kill or be killed on a level they had never known. These people would never be the same.

It saddened her.

She turned away from the threshold and went to sit in her chair.

With a few hours still left, she had time to fletch some more arrows. The task would keep her mind off of things. She always found peace in simple tasks and she needed to know some degree of peace before the fighting started.

She got about twenty done before a familiar voice came from the door to her shelter.

"So, what's this I hear about you fighting Dresmor by yourself?"

Jaelyn turned to look at Quin. She sighed and shook her head.

"Someone around here has a big mouth."

Quin entered and went to sit on the bed. His face was serious, as serious as it had been when he had helped her bury Feral.

"Gulaonar told me." he said. "He also told Grimnar and Olland."

"_What_? Who does he think he is?" she exclaimed, angrily. An arrow snapped in her grasp. She flung it across the shelter.

"Calm down, Jaelyn." the halfling prompted in as gentle a manner as possible. "You, of all people, need to be calm."

She hung her head, letting out a deep sigh. "I know."

There was a moment of silence.

Quin shifted on the bed so that he was sitting right in front of her.

"I know you're scared for us." he said. "It's okay to be scared. Everyone here is afraid and for the same reasons that you are."

"Bishop isn't." she replied. "That infuriating man acts like it's nothing. And why not? I mean, he's probably been through this dozens of times over."

Quin shook his head with a laugh. "I had an interesting conversation with him earlier after Gulaonar told me what you're planning. He said he tried to change your mind and failed. Jae...he's not prone to behavior like that. He doesn't change people's minds, least of all yours, because he respects you enough to make your own decisions. But he knows where your decision will lead and the result scares him."

"Then he knows how I feel and he should understand my decision."

"One of you will have to give in," Quin went on. "For any good to come out of this. We need to be unified, not seperated. He isn't going to give in and he shouldn't have to. He's already given in to you and that's more than enough for him. It's only fair that you should give something in to him."

Jaelyn remained silent, but Quin saw on her face that his words must've been getting through. She was frowning but she was also thinking.

"Give in, Jae. Let us fight with you." Quin pressed. "Do it for him. He's changed, whether intentionally or unintentionally, and it was because of you. He now has more to lose."

She looked up at him, confused. "What?"

"Hope." Quin claified. "If you die, you'll take the hope you gave him away. Would you do to him the very thing your mother did to Dresmor? Dangle hope in front of him, and then rip it away?"

Her heart dropped and her eyes widened.

She had never looked at it that way. She had been so caught up in trying to protect them, she never realized the effect her decision, and possibly her death, would have on her companions. What in the Nine Hells was wrong with her? How could she have been so selfish?

"Gods, Quin..."

The halfling smiled and nodded. "I see you understand now. You'll let us help you fight?"

She faltered for a moment, battling her fear. "I...Okay. Okay, Quin."

"Great!" Quin replied, happily. "Now everyone can stop worrying about you."

"I'm sorry." she said, softly. "I was being selfish. I was too worried about my own fears to see anyone elses."

"It's understandable."

"So, how are we going to do this, then?"

"Well, Olland and Grimnar plan to help us fight Dresmor." Quin said. "It will-"

"Wait, I don't think that's a good idea." Jaelyn interrupted. "They've only just learned how to wield their weapons. Dresmor is beyond them. And he'll go for them first, because they're the weakest in skill."

"The more people we have fighting against him, the better." Quin said. "Besides, they were the ones that offered to help."

Jaelyn shook her head. "No. They should be fighting the other drow with their people. I have agreed to let you and Bishop fight with me, but I will not agree to this."

Quin sighed and put up his hands. "All right. Well, Olland has asked that we meet him at his shelter. He wants to show us something."

"What?"

"I don't know. Gulaonar relayed the message to me before going back out into the forest."

Jaelyn stood up. "Okay. Let's go, then."

The two headed out into the village and found the ranger waiting for them near Olland's place, looking bored as usual when he found himself waiting around for the action to start. He had gotten a new tunic made completely out of hide since the one he'd been wearing had been rendered into useless strips of leather from the countless battles and man-handling they all had gone through. He was also heavily armed. His normal weaponry were all in place, longsword at his left hip and bow at his back, the string crossing his chest. On his belt were a number of daggers and knives, some his own and others they had found in the drows' hideouts. Finally, at his right hip along side his quiver of arrows, there was a small pouch with something spherical hiding inside. Jaelyn had a good idea of what that was. She wondered why he would risk carrying it so openly. All it would take is one good hit to shatter the globe. Her guess was it would be the first weapon he used.

"Guess who finally came to her senses?" Quin announced.

"You mean to tell me you were actually capable of getting past her irritating stubborness?" Bishop replied with genuine astonishment.

The halfling grinned. "You may be good at some things, but communicating with people isn't one of them. All it took was a few well-placed words and truths."

The ranger snorted. "I'm surprised."

Jaelyn frowned. "I'm standing right here, you know."

There was no remark on the ranger's part. In fact, it seemed he was making an effort to ignore her. She guessed he was still wound up from their conversation earlier. That wouldn't do. She was going to make sure that anger was resolved before they went into battle. There was no way in the hells she was going to let their potential last words to each other be ones of anger.

Quin looked up at her and gave her arm a pat. "Sorry, Jae. Well, come on. We should see what Olland wants."

The trio entered Olland's shelter and found the man waiting for them in the midst of the main room.

He stood tall and confident in the armor Jaelyn and company had found with the weapons some time back. In his right hand was a halberd, the blade reaching just above his head. Although most of the halberd looked aged, the blade had a nice sheen to it with only a few scratches, dents and spots of rust that couldn't be removed. The blade's edge had been honed to a fatal sharpness. The weapon would serve him well.

"You wanted to see us?" Jaelyn spoke.

Olland nodded. "Yes, there is something the three of you should see. This way."

Jaelyn followed Olland into another room, her companions behind her.

She had never been in this room. It was small, but elaborately decorated with finely-made rugs and wooden statues of native men none of them had ever seen before. The small statues encircled the center of the room where there was what appeared to be a trapdoor in the floor. The door was covered in native carvings, colored with ink.

An old man stood off to the side, watching them. He wore dark brown robes that were worn and tattered with age and elaborately embroidered with native markings, perhaps denoting his title among the people. His nearly bald head was crowned by tendrils of thin, white hair, his half-tattooed face was wrinkled and drawn, but fierce, calculating blue eyes belied his ancient face. There was still plenty of life left in this man.

Those eyes lingered on Jaelyn and Quin, as if scrutinzing their very souls, and then they finally came upon Bishop.

None in the room missed his look of hatred.

The old man shifted a bit, one gnarled hand clenching into a tight fist.

To both Jaelyn and Quin, it looked like he wanted nothing more than to kill the ranger. Jaelyn wondered what Bishop had done to him to earn such hatred. She didn't have to wonder for long.

"This is Akore." Olland said, introducing the old man. "He is the prophet of our people."

Jaelyn flinched, now fearing what they had been called here for. "Uh oh."

Quin nudged her. "What's going on?"

She swallowed. "That man is Akore. He is the prophet of the natives...he's also Akereth's father."

Jaelyn gave Bishop an anxious look, but he was utterly unmoved by the news. She noticed, however, that his hand rested at the grip of his sword.

"Oh, dear." said Quin. "Do you think he knows about Akereth?"

"If that look is any indication, I'd say yes."

"So what?" said Bishop, keeping his gaze leveled on the old man. "There's not a damn thing he can do about it."

"Perhaps not now." Jaelyn replied. "But when this is all over..."

The ranger scoffed. "Let him try, then. What's that old bastard going to do?"

"Don't underestimate him. He may look old, but there's a lot more to him than what he's showing."

"Is everything all right?" Olland interrupted.

The old man shifted again, his intense gaze falling on Olland. His thin mouth curled into a nasty smile.

"Oh, everything is _splendid_." he spoke in sarcasm. "Our village faces war and we have placed our lives in their hands. And one of them just happens to be a murderer."

Olland stared at him in shock. "What're you saying?"

"My son was killed! Murdered!" Akore shouted at him and then pointed accusingly at Bishop. "By him!"

Olland frowned. "How do you know this?"

"How do you think? The island shows me many things. He must be punished for his crime! If you truly are our leader, you will see it done."

"Wait, this is getting out of hand." Jaelyn said, stepping forward and holding out her hands. "There is a lot more to the situation."

"You dare stand there and defend that murderer?" Akore spat at her.

"No," she said, uncertainly. Then she shook her head, "No. What he did was wrong, but he isn't the only one to blame in this."

"There is no other to blame! He did the deed! He must pay!"

"Do you have any idea how obsessed your son was with the foolish prophecies you filled his head with?" she asked. "He had no understanding of them! He took it word for word. Admittedly, I led him along for a while out of my own confusing feelings for him, but when I understood truly how I felt, I told him. There was not to be anything between us but friendship. It didn't matter. He still pursued, and that path led him to his own destruction. If you place blame on my friend for your son's death, then you must also place blame on all who were involved. You and I had as much to do with it as he did. I should not have led Akereth along in the first place, no matter how confused I was, and you should have better explained your prophecy to him."

The old man's face creased in fury. "How _dare_ you!"

Olland rose his hand. "Calm yourself, Akore. The fact of the matter is, at this moment, we have more important matters to see to. War is but a few hours away, maybe less. The situation regarding Akereth must wait."

The old man let out a fierce growl and turned away.

Olland faced Jaelyn with a regretful look. "If what Akore said of your companion is true, if he indeed took Akereth's life through an act of murder, he will be charged for the crime and he will face the penalty."

"I...I understand." she said, anxiously. As if she didn't already have enough to worry about. "What is the penalty?"

She truly feared the answer.

Olland's face was grim. "Our law regarding such matters is simple: a life for a life. If a life is taken through an act of murder, the life of the one responsible for the act will be taken as rectification."

Jaelyn sighed dreadfully, but then a sudden thought came to her and she looked back at Olland. "Even if the person responsible should save dozens of other lives in a seperate act?"

Olland shook his head. "It would not matter. He did not wrong the others. He wronged Akore. The saving of other lives cannot rectify the most personal one your friend took."

Jaelyn shook her head. "There must be something I can do."

"There is nothing that can be done. If this was murder, then it is not your responsibility to defend him and nor should you. Your friend knew what he was doing, and therefore, knew the consequences of his act. If there is a way to redeem himself in Akore's eyes, he must do it himself. But...I doubt there is much one can do to make up for murdering someone's son."

Jaelyn rubbed the bridge of her nose in frustration. As if this day couldn't get any worse. It was just their luck that someone had found out about Akereth's death at this moment. Now, not only did she have to worry about the ranger making it through the coming battle, she also had to worry about what would happen to him afterward.

She tried telling herself that he brought this on himself, he shouldn't have killed Akereth no matter how much he interfered, but it didn't remove her anxiety. She couldn't see any way out of this for him.

Someone nudged her again.

Jaelyn looked down at the halfling.

"What's going on?"

She sighed and shook her head. "Nothing good...as usual. Since Akore obviously knows Bishop murdered his son, he wants him to pay the penalty."

"Which is?" Quin asked, although he had a good idea.

"The natives have a pretty simple penalty regarding murder. A life for a life."

"They're going to be disappointed then." said Bishop, matter-of-factly.

Jaelyn looked at him, grimly. "I don't see any way around this."

He shrugged. "It's simple. If they want my help with the drow, they'll forget about me killing that bastard."

"It won't work that way. No matter how many lives you save in their battle, it won't make up for the one you took. As Olland explained to me, you wronged Akore. If you want to avoid execution, you have to do something that will rectify what you did in Akore's eyes. I don't see how that's possible. How do you make up for taking his son's life? You can't." She shook her head in frustration. "Gods, Bishop, why did you have to do something so stupid?"

He glared at her. "He deserved it! What's it to you, anyway? It's my problem, not yours."

"Idiot." she shot back, angrily. "You made me fall in love with you, so it _is_ my problem. Your problems become my problems, because I don't want anything to happen to you!"

He looked away, frowning, and shook his head. "I didn't make you do anything. Fall out of love with me, then it won't be your problem anymore."

Jaelyn stared at him, speechless.

She wanted to slap him. How dare he suggest such a thing! As if something like that could just be switch on and off.

"Is that what you want?" she finally asked, her voice rough.

He didn't answer.

"Guys," Quin said with a sigh. "We don't have time to argue or to deal with this right now. We're here for a reason; let's focus on that."

Jaelyn frowned and shook her head at the infuriating ranger. She turned her attention on Olland and Akore.

"So, what is it you wanted to show us?"

Olland turned and nodded to Akore. The old man, a look of disgust still on his face, moved to the door outlined in the floor. He bent and grabbed the handle, lifting it. It revealed a hole with steps that led deep into the ground.

"This is the entrance to the Heart of the Island." Olland said. "And it is also where the Account of Past Lives, our history, resides."

Jaelyn translated for her companions and then stepped over to stand beside Akore. Quin joined her, kneeling down at the door. They both peered down into the hole and then Jaelyn looked up at Olland.

"How far down is it?"

"It's not particularly deep, but there are many winding tunnels. It's at least an hour journey to the Heart." he replied. "I thought it wise to inform you and your companions of its location."

She nodded. "Well, with any luck, Dresmor won't get any where near it."

"Let us hope."

Jaelyn looked thoughtfully into the hole again. "I would have liked to see your Account of Past Lives. I would have liked to learn your people's history."

Olland smiled. "If all goes well in the coming war, I will take you down to see it myself."

Jaelyn smiled back. "I'm going to hold you to that."

"Hello!" Quin abruptly shouted into the hole with a grin, listening to the echo. "Wow."

Olland and Akore stared at him.

Jaelyn's smile turned sheepish. "Don't mind him."

She nudged the halfling. "Quin, cut it out."

Quin looked up and around, and then gave his own sheepish smile. "Sorry." He stood up, adjusting his weaponry. "So, are we going down? I can't wait to see this!"

Jaelyn shook her head. "No, it's too far down. An hour journey."

"Well, damn."

"You'll see it soon enough, half-man." came Bishop's ominous voice from behind them. "Are we done here?"

Before anyone could reply, there was a slight breeze that blew around the curtain to Olland's shelter and then the ghostly form of Gulaonar appeared, a grim look on his ethereal face.

"It's time."

**xxxxxxxxxx**

The trio hurried across the village.

Already, the natives were getting ready. Some were getting into their positions, others readying their equipment to do the same. Two or three were going from house to house to awake or alert their fellow natives. The three native commanders were in their positions, ordering their men and women, checking to make sure they were all armed with the proper weaponry, and generally keeping them calm.

There was a lot of hurrying, but there was no panic. No one ran away, screaming. No one fled. But the fear could be seen.

"How far away are they?" Jaelyn asked Gulaonar.

"I was at least five miles from the village when I felt the repelling power of their pendants. They would be much closer now, however. I estimate they're an hour or so away."

"I'm no expert at battle, but should the natives be getting into position already? An hour of nothing but sitting in one spot will give them time to think and they might decide to run."

Gulaonar shook his head. "They've had plenty of time to think and they haven't run yet. They know it isn't an option. Besides, the drow might come sooner than expected. Better to have them ready."

"Are the children safe?"

"Yes, they're all hiding where you suggested."

"Good." Jaelyn replied and then turned to her companions. "So, I was thinking, until we spot Dresmor, we should probably split up, each of us take a position at each area of attack."

"No." said Bishop with a shake of his head. "Splitting up is a bad idea."

"Why?" Jaelyn replied. "The natives are doing it."

"Because they have to. We don't. Our priority is Dresmor." he said. "If we split up, it'll take time for us to regroup when he's been spotted, which in turn will give him more time to reach his goal."

"As much as it pains me to admit it, Bishop is right." said Gulaonar. "It is best if you three stay together."

Jaelyn sighed. "All right."

"He'll be coming from the north." Bishop added. "And from the back of his troop."

Jaelyn looked at him. "How do you know that?"

"A hunch. More than likely he knows the layout of this village; the north is the closest to his goal. He's not going to help his troop fight. He doesn't need to. So, the moment he steps foot in this village, he's going to be heading straight for that Heart, or whatever the hells it is."

"Right. Well, that makes sense." She slapped her hands together. "Well, let's get into position then."

Bishop rose a brow. "Aren't you forgetting something?"

She thought it over and shrugged. "I don't think so."

He shook his head and Quin laughed.

"Your weapons, Jae."

Jaelyn's eyes grew wide and she slapped a hand over her left hip where her sword was usually belted, only to find that it wasn't there. In her curiosity to find out what Olland wanted, she had forgotten to arm herself.

"Ah!"

With that, she sprinted off to her shelter.

The three left standing there looked around the village at the bustling natives. Most were already gathered at their positions, waiting on their commanders for further instructions.

Quin sighed. "I sure hope this works."

"You three did an exceptional job training them in such a short time." Gulaonar replied. "And reached well beyond any expectation I had. Truthfully, I figured only a handful would become trained fighters, but you managed to train over half the village."

"Well, they really did most of the work. The ones we taught passed on what they knew to others." Quin said.

"Nevertheless, you three have done an incredible thing for these people. You have given them the knowledge and tools to defend themselves. If you hadn't come to this island, the drow would have succeeded in erasing these people from existence."

Bishop faced him. "They still might."

"Perhaps. But they may yet surprise you..." Gulaonar paused, a grimace coming over his ghostly face. He looked off toward the north.

"They are close now." He looked back at the other two. "I cannot remain here any longer; the repelling power of their pendants is much too strong. You two must protect Jaelyn...no matter what. Good luck."

Gulaonar floated off toward the south end of the village, giving one last look over his shoulder before disappearing between the trees.

Jaelyn returned sometime later, bow in her hand, sword belted at her left hip, quiver at her right, and Bishop's dagger sheathed on her belt. Her hair was pulled back away from her face, bound up high into a pony tail.

She glanced around for the ghost. "I take it he left already?"

Quin nodded.

Jaelyn faced the north, where the troop of natives assigned to this area were already in position. She took a deep breath, letting it out slowly.

"So...this is it."

Quin stepped up to her and put his hand on her arm. When she looked down, he was grinning.

"It'll be a piece of cake!"

She smiled, nodded firmly, and looked north again, her eyes glued intently on the small path that led into the village.

"Before this gets violent, I just want you both to know how much I-"

"Stop." Bishop interrupted. His voice was oddly gentle, but it carried a tone of irritation. "No last words."

She looked at him to find a hard, fierce, and determined expression on his face. It was a look she saw many times before a fight, no matter if it was a verbal one with her or a physical one with the drow. It was his battle face.

"It's not ending here."

"All right, fine. No last words." she conceded. But she would still make up for the angry words they had exchanged.

With a smile, she reached over, grabbed him by the collar of his new shirt and yanked him toward her. He found himself staring quite closely into her pale green eyes, and it made his head swim. He wondered briefly if she had some spell over him, despite her knowing nothing about magic. The thought then sank to the back of his mind and was forgotten when she pressed a firm, warm and lingering kiss on his mouth.

Niether knew how long they had stayed together that way, kissing and touching, and they didn't seem to care. Niether seemed to care who saw them, either.

Quin made a face. "Jeez, can't you two do that later...and in private? It's kind of gross."

The sound of the halfling's voice finally opened some space between both rangers. Bishop peered over the top of Jaelyn's head to offer Quin a somewhat smug smirk.

"Sounds like the halfling's jealous."

"I'm not jealous!" Quin shouted.

"That was convincing."

The halfling narrowed his eyes at the ranger. "Shut up!" He stomped off toward the natives.

"You don't have to be an ass to him, you know." Jaelyn said.

Bishop shrugged and grinned. "I just wanted to get rid of him."

"Why?"

He pulled her to him again, leaving a sliver of space between them. "'Cause he was interrupting us."

**xxxxxxxxxx**

An hour had come and gone quicker than Jaelyn would have liked.

Physically, she was ready for what awaited. Mentally was a different story.

It wasn't her own emotions she was worried about, or her ability to control them. It was the knowledge Dresmor's sword contained. Would her mind be able to handle gaining centuries upon centuries of skill and knowledge in one moment? Or would it shatter her mind?

Dresmor's mind had been shattered before he obtained the sword and yet he seemed to have been able to handle the transference of so much information. Then again, she wasn't completely sure how broken Dresmor's mind was before the sword came into his possession. Perhaps it had further shattered his mind.

She just didn't know.

Furthering her anxiety was the knowledge itself. What kind of knowledge and skills had her ancestors gathered over the centuries? What if they were dark, unholy powers she wanted nothing to do with?

Jaelyn shifted a bit in her spot on the crude porch of a nearby shelter. She stretched her legs out and let out a soft sigh.

Bishop sat beside her, leaning his shoulder against one of the support poles while he watched her, intently.

They hadn't spoken much in the past hour, merely sat there waiting for the cries and commotion of battle to start.

"You're thinking too much." he noted.

Jaelyn ran her fingers along the elaborately carved arc of her bow in thought. Bishop's voice only barely broke through the collection of thoughts crowding her brain.

"Hmm?" She blinked and sighed again. "I can't help it. I just keep thinking about this sword. I mean, what if I can't handle the power? What if my mind...overloads or something?"

He shrugged. "Always a possibility."

Jaelyn sagged. "I keep forgetting you're not good at this reassuring people thing."

"I'm not trying to, nor will I ever, reassure you. If that's what you're looking for, go find it elsewhere. You're only getting honesty from me, no matter how brutal."

She sat straight and looked at him. "Honesty, huh? So, you're saying if I ask you something, you'll answer it honestly?"

"If I feel like it, I will."

"Do you think I have a chance?"

For a long time, he was silent.

Jaelyn frowned and leaned toward him a bit. "_Well_?"

"You know," he finally spoke. "I actually do think you stand a chance. You seem to have a knack for beating the odds and achieving the impossible."

"I hope you're right."

"Aren't I always?"

She smiled.

They fell silent once again, but as was usual around Jaelyn, it didn't last long.

"There's something else I want to ask you, something very important."

He shrugged. "Ask away. Just don't expect an answer."

She was actually afraid to ask her question, afraid that it might run him off. She knew the answer to her question. She simply wondered-couldn't stop wondering-if he knew the answer and if he had the courage to even admit it if he did. She had told herself once that it wouldn't matter if he ever admitted it with words, but she wasn't so sure. It sounded like she was simply seeking assurance again, assurance she didn't need.

"Do..." She turned her face completely away from his. "Do you..."

Jaelyn stopped herself from asking. She wouldn't question him about it. He would admit it on his own terms, in his own time. If she ever wanted to hear it, she needed to be patient.

"Nevermind."

"Jaelyn."

Hesitantly, she looked back at him, met his gaze. His face was serious. There was something strange in his eyes, as if he knew what she had been about to ask. She wouldn't be surprised in the least if he did.

"I-"

Whatever he was about to say was cut short by a shout from the north.

They both stood, looking off in that direction to see the natives moving about in a rush, shouting. Cries of pain, shouts of command in two seperate languages, the clang of metal, and the hiss of arrows were suddenly all around them and deafening.

The two rangers sprinted out into the village center, both deciding that they would use their bows first.

A quick look around confirmed that the natives at the south end of the village and the west were engaged with the drow as well.

So far, the archers and those with the blastglobes had done a fair job of ridding the drow of their own archers, at least at the south end. The drow trying to push through the line of natives were mainly swordsmen.

The north line broke first.

Native swordsmen scattered as the drow charged through them. It would be impossible to get them to reform again. The good thing was none of them were fleeing; they were merely moving around for room to manuever. Some natives charged in behind the drow, attacking when their opponents were in range. A few arrows came out of trees, striking into a few drow. None were fatal hits, but it would be enough to slow them down.

Jaelyn nocked an arrow to her bow and fired it at a nearby drow, downing and killing him. Nearby, Bishop was firing arrow after arrow from his bow like a machine, gold eyes effortlessly finding an appropriate target to snipe. His hand was a blur as it passed from quiver to bow. Jaelyn noticed that every shot hit home and the majority of his shots were fatal.

Setting aside her amazement, she began firing along with him.

The drow on the north side were dropping fast and it seemed so far the natives pretty much had the battle in their control.

Then Jaelyn heard a cacophony of shouts behind her. She glanced over her shoulder briefly to find that the south line had failed. The drow were pouring in.

She swung around and began firing arrow after arrow at them. No matter how fast she was, she couldn't down enough of them and the ones she had the misfortune to miss or ones that she simply couldn't get to in time were now barreling on her and the ranger.

"Bishop! I could use some help over here!"

He turned. Seeing the drow closing in, he muttered a curse, threw down his bow and drew his sword.

Without hesitation, he advanced on the closest drow. The ranger's sword flashed out. It came too quick to be blocked. It connected with the drow's abdomen and nearly cut him in half. The drow went down, screaming in agony.

A second drow swung for Bishop's head. He ducked, spun around the drow, and stabbed his blade into his back.

He yanked it out and found himself flanked by two more drow, both armed with twin blades. Bishop knew he was outarmed in this one, but it was evened up somewhat when an arrow went into the back of the head of one.

He didn't need to ask who'd done it. He merely swung to his other side and drove his blade into the gut of the drow there.

No sooner had he killed that one, a handful more were barreling in on him from both directions.

He dropped his sword momentarily and drew the many daggers on his belt.

Two somersaulted, quick as arrows, through the air. One went into a drow's forehead and the second went into the throat of another. Bishop didn't wait to see if those knives found their mark. He knew it. He swung around the moment they had left his hands and released two more daggers on the two drow coming in behind him. They found their mark as well.

As one drow finally got within strinking distance of him, he dropped to the ground to retrieve his sword and at the same time, avoided the slash attack coming in at him.

He swung his sword low before the drow could get in a second attack, severing his legs in a flurry of blood. The dark elf let out a shriek and writhed on the ground.

Bishop straightened and stepped casually over him, grabbing up one of the drow's fallen swords as he did.

Jaelyn sniped her last drow. She had downed a handful of them, but her quiver was now empty. He knew she'd had some forty or so arrows in her quiver before the battle had started. There weren't many bodies downed by arrows, not equal to the amount of arrows she'd had on her. She'd missed a lot of shots.

For her skill to be lacking this much, something was definitely wrong. As far as he could tell, she was physically all right.

He had no time to think further on it. More drow were barreling in on him.

Bishop met them head on and as he expected them to do, the four drow surrounded him. There was a slight pause on all their parts as nasty grins were exchanged and insults in an alien language were issued. One drow was in the midst of making some remark in his language when Bishop merely grinned and stabbed him through the throat before he could finish his sentence. This prompted the others into action.

Swords came in at the ranger in almost every direction. He ducked and blocked a few. One blade nicked his arm, but the wielder didn't live long enough to savor the minor victory.

He blocked a few more attacks before issuing his own on the drow on his right. He easily broke through the drow's defense and one of his blade's slipped under his ribs.

He spun to deal with the next drow only to see the point of a sword exit his stomach. When the drow fell dead, Jaelyn was standing there, the end of her blade dripping blood.

She looked from the dead drow to him and smiled. He smiled back. They both faced the other drow still standing there and advanced together with the same fierce, determined expression. The drow's red eyes darted between them, his hands tightening on the grips of his swords. He swallowed and for a brief moment, he stood his ground as if he would attack. Then, likely coming to some self-preserving decision, he turned and fled them.

They didn't follow.

There was a brief lull in the battle for them, giving them a moment to catch their breath and assess their situation as it was now.

The south and north ends were still in utter chaos, the north slightly less so. The west was the only area where the line of natives had held and there were now only a handful of drow archers and crossbowmen left.

Jaelyn searched the north for Quin and found him fighting along side Olland and Grimnar. He was safe and seemed to be enjoying himself, despite the situation. His eager shouts of effort could easily be heard, followed by victorious laughter when he downed an opponent.

A moment later, a terrified shriek cut through the din of battle. No one seemed to notice but the two rangers.

Scanning through the village, they found the source of the heart-wrenching sound.

A child.

The young boy was crouched down nearby one of the shelters, his hands over his head. A native man was attempting to protect him from two drow, one armed with a crossbow and the other with a sword, but his effort didn't last long.

In the end, the man found himself impaled on a drow blade.

When his body fell, the child let out another scream. The drow closed in on the boy and lifted his sword to end his life.

Jaelyn gripped her sword and ran at him. She pushed and willed herself to move faster and before she knew it, her blade had sheathed itself in the drow's side.

He looked at her in surprise and then died, sliding off her blade.

She turned to deal with the crossbowmen. His weapon was already raised and aimed at her head, his finger on the trigger. There was no way she would dodge the bolt in time.

She heard the ominous click that heralded the end of her life.

In that same moment, there was movement in her peripheral vision. Something crashed into her legs and she fell in the dirt. The bolt that would have killed her thuded into the wooden pole of one of the shelters.

For a moment, she wondered if she was dead, then she turned over to find the little boy at her side, staring at her with wide, tear-filled blue eyes.

She knew that face. It was Akar, Akereth's little brother.

The drow crossbowmen reloaded his weapon and aimed it at her again. Jaelyn pushed the boy away and reached for her sword.

The moment her hand encircled the grip, the drow let out a cry and fell, a deep, bleeding slash in his side. Jaelyn looked up to see Bishop standing over him.

She let out a breath of relief.

"Nice timing." she remarked as she got to her feet and then helped Akar to his.

She checked the child for any injuries and then told him to hide in one of the shelters and not make a sound.

The boy nodded and moved to do as she said. He got only a few steps before the drow crossbowmen reached out in his final moments of life and grabbed the boy's leg. Akar let out a cry and the drow raised a dagger at him.

Both rangers jumped into action, but Bishop beat Jaelyn to it. He rammed his sword into the drow's back and Jaelyn's followed shortly after. Dagger and hand fell away from the child. Akar stood there, staring at the ranger with wide eyes.

"Go!" Bishop shouted at the boy, not in anger, but to get him moving.

Akar didn't need a translation. He turned and fled into one of the shelters to hide.

On the north end of the village, things were taking a turn for the worse.

Somehow, a fire had started and now a few of the shelters were burning. Something had the natives there fleeing in every direction, drow on their heels. Native archers from the west and atop of some of the roofs, were sending arrows out that way, aiding their people's retreat.

The only ones that remained at the north entrance were Quin, Olland and Grimnar.

Jaelyn's heart clenched up in fear. "It's him. Oh, Gods. This is it."

"Let's end it, then." Bishop said, firmly.

He marched off toward the others.

For a moment, Jaelyn found that her feet refused to follow him and she knew what was keeping her from moving. She couldn't let it control her, not now; she couldn't give in to her fear. She would not let it dominate her after all the time and hell it took for her to finally learn to face what she fled from.

Jaelyn gave herself the moment she needed. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and gathered her courage.

_There's no sense in being afraid now. This is it, the moment to end all fear, death, and suffering here. They believe in me; I can't...no, I won't let them down._

With courage and determination reinforced, Jaelyn opened her eyes, gripped her sword and sprinted across the village to her friends.

She stopped between Quin and Bishop, staring ahead.

Dresmor stood not far away from them, alone. In his right hand was his ancestral sword, the blade giving off its dark purple glow.

"Olland. Grimnar." Jaelyn spoke in drow without looking at them. "Your people need you elsewhere. Leave him to us."

"Jaelyn, we can help." Olland insisted. "You can only benefit from having more people fight with you."

"No. Trust me on this. Dresmor is beyond you both." She looked at them. "Besides, the south end is struggling. We need you to keep the drow there at bay until we've dealt with Dresmor."

Olland sighed. "Very well."

He stepped to her and laid his hand on her shoulder. "May the island and fortune be with you and your friends."

Jaelyn smiled and clasped his shoulder as well. "And with you and yours."

Olland passed her and made his way south, his halberd resting on his shoulder, the blade stained in blood. Grimnar followed his leader, sparing Jaelyn a look as he passed.

"Good luck."

She nodded firmly and faced toward Dresmor once again.

"You both are free to change your minds and leave if you wish. I'm not asking you to fight with me, to risk your lives on my behalf." she said to her friends.

"We're with you, Jae." said Quin. "To the end."

Bishop gripped his swords, staring fiercely at the cause of all their problems. "Enough talk. Let's end him!"

Before either of them could get in a word or even a breath, the ranger charged ahead.

Jaelyn briefly wondered if it was a wise move to make, considering he'd told her plenty of times how foolish it was to charge a more skilled opponent.

Regardless of whether it was or not, it was too late to take it back. So, setting the thought aside, Jaelyn charged behind him. Quin moved after them, keeping to the far left flank.

Human and drow came together in a clash of metal. Dresmor was grinning as he blocked the ranger's attack and whipped one of his swords away and out of his hand in one move.

"Godsdamnit!" Bishop growled and swiped his remaining sword at the drow's midsection.

Dresmor took a step back from the blade's path and just as he was about to get in an attack of his own, Jaelyn's longsword came stabbing in at his right side. Quin followed up at his left.

Dresmor blocked Jaelyn's attack and then danced away from Quin. He then turned to issue a swift kick into the halfling's chest, sending him sprawling backwards on the ground.

Jaelyn and Bishop attacked him as one, her blade thrusting in at Dresmor's chest and his swiping up high at his head. Dresmor's blade came down vertically, parrying Jaelyn's and then he threw up his left arm, catching Bishop's attack on his metal armguard.

Quin was on his feet now, making a strategic move to attack Dresmor from behind while his friends attack from his front and right.

Their attacks came as one, but yet again their efforts were thwarted. The moment they moved in together, Dresmor levitated off the ground. Quick reflexes saved the trio from stabbing each other.

"He can't do that!" Quin shouted in frustration.

"He just did." said Bishop, angrily.

He reached to his belt and drew his last dagger. With perfect aim and percision, he sent it somersaulting toward the levitating drow. Dresmor's left arm flashed out and knocked the knife away.

"Arrg! Bastard!"

When Dremor's feet touched the ground, the trio barreled on him once again, but the berth between them and him gave Dresmor the time to make another move none of them had expected.

He began to speak arcane words.

Jaelyn's eyes grew wide. "Magic!"

Why she was surprised, she had no idea. She should have known Dresmor knew some magic. After all, Gulaonar had told her once that one of their ancestors, trapped inside the blade, was a mage.

Before any of them had time to prepare for what spell would befall them, the final spell word left Dresmor's lips.

A forceful gust of wind blew up from around the drow and blasted the trio, sending both rangers flying backwards some feet away where they laid for several moments, dazed. The gust blew Quin into a tree, knocking him unconscious.

Dresmor strode over to them just as Bishop was attempting to get up.

The drow's foot slammed into his back, forcing him to the ground again and knocking his breath clear out of his lungs.

Jaelyn turned over on her back just in time to see her father leaning over her. Her first instinct was to slash her sword at him. His armguard easily batted it away.

"You should have taken my offer, daughter. You know you cannot win." he said.

"Wrong." Jaelyn replied.

With that, she issued an unexpected attack of her own. She lifted her foot and slammed it into his groin.

Dresmor howled in pain and rage.

Bishop took his chance and sprang to his feet. He launched himself at the drow, his sword leading the way.

Dresmor, in his pain, barely had time to parry the attack this time. But parry it he did, and at the same time, Jaelyn drew Bishop's dagger from her belt and stabbed it into his thigh, forcing him into a knelt position.

Dresmor conjured another gust of wind, sending it Bishop's way, knocking him back. Jaelyn took her chance now and reached for Dresmor's sword while he was distracted.

She tried to pry it from his hands and the moment the cold metal touched her skin, a strange tingling sensation ran through her.

Dresmor tried to pull out of her grip and when she didn't relent, he growled and struck her hard across the face.

The force in his blow caused bright spots to erupt on her vision and it made her ears ring, but she still was able to keep her grip on him.

Before he could strike her again, she bent her head and sank her teeth into his hand. She bit hard until she tasted blood.

"Bitch!" Dresmor shouted and struck her again, but it didn't matter now.

He realized too late that he had let go of his sword out of some pain reflex. It was in her hands now, but he knew from experience what would come next for her, and this was precisely the moment he needed.

With the sword now in Jaelyn's complete possession, that tingling feeling she'd felt moments ago intensified a hundred fold. It wasn't a pleasant sensation and she'd never felt anything like it before. It hurt, as if lightning was continuously running through her body and mind. The pain churned her insides.

She couldn't stifle a cry and her body curled up out of reflex to the pain.

It only got worse as her mind began to feel as if it were being stretched, much like when she communicated telepathically with Elegy. Only now, instead of her mind being stretched out toward something, it was being stretched open to retrieve something.

It felt as if her mind would split in two.

She released another cry as the pain intensified.

Then, in the very corridors of her mind, she began to hear evil, masculine voices of different tones and pitches. One of them was impossibly deep and it seemed to have taken the most interest in her, for it spoke directly to her.

_Your mind is different_, it said. C_lear...purified.._._no desire for power_.

_Unworthy_! another voice shouted angrily. _We must crush her mind_!

Jaelyn flinched at that voice and moaned as it sent a shockwave of pain through her head.

Meanwhile, Dresmor reached for Jaelyn to lift her up, but a shadow fell over him.

The drow had but a second to roll away and then the sword that came stabbing in at him struck the ground. A second blade followed, but was also unable to hit its mark.

Unarmed now and keeping a wide berth, Dresmor got to his feet, favoring his left leg, which was bleeding from the wound Jaelyn had inflicted on him.

He grinned nastily at the ranger. "Stand aside, human. You don't really want to die for her, do you? Look at her. She won't be able to handle the power in that sword. It will be too much for her. It will leave nothing left of her but a shell, her mind broken. Risking your life for her would not be worth it in the end."

Without a word, Bishop moved to stand directly in front of Jaelyn's prone form. His intent was clear. If Dresmor wanted her, he was going to have to go through him first.

Dresmor saw this and going through the ranger was exactly what he intended to do. If the fool wanted to die for her, he would gladly oblige him.

Dresmor began to utter the words of a spell once again. This time, instead of conjuring a strong gust of wind, it was a large ball of flame.

The final spell word had the flaming sphere shooting out of Dresmor's hands. It hurtled toward Bishop.

The ranger threw himself to the ground and rolled over Jaelyn, shielding her.

The ball of fire flew over them, leaving them both unharmed. It burst into a few trees some ways behind them, settling them on fire.

Bishop moved off of Jaelyn and looked at her to finally see what Dresmor had been telling him.

With the sword in her hand, she stared up, blankly and unmoving. It was that utter stillness that bothered him the most. It hardly looked like she was breathing.

He shook her and called her name.

She didn't answer. She didn't do anything, didn't even blink.

He called to her again.

Nothing.

Was her mind already gone?

The thought gave him a horrible jolt of panic, and deeper, underneath that panic, the flames of rage burst to life.

Bishop got up, thrust one sword into the ground and reached to the little pouch hanging off his belt. Fortune was the only thing that had kept it intact through everything.

This bastard was going to pay. If it wasn't for him, Jaelyn never would've had to use that damn sword. She wouldn't be laying there like that with the possibility of her mind being gone.

He took the little globe of acid from its pouch and tossed it at Dresmor.

To Bishop's shock, Dresmor ran toward the globe instead of away from it and caught it in midair. The glass cracked in some places but made an effort to hold together. Now, that was unexpected.

"You've got to be kidding me!" the ranger yelled in frustration. "Shit!"

Dresmor grinned and threw the globe back.

Bishop wasn't taking the same chance Dresmor had taken. Knowing his rotten luck, it'd burst in his hand. Instead, he dove toward Jaelyn, grabbed her and rolled them both away from the danger. A split second later, the globe shattered to pieces where he had been standing. The acid hissed and bubbled harmlessly into the ground.

He wished to the gods that Jaelyn would snap out of it so he wouldn't have to keep worrying about her prone form coming to harm. At least if she was conscious she could look after herself.

Bishop pushed himself off the ground and barrled on the drow, grabbing his other sword sticking out of the ground as he passed it by.

This time, despite a wider berth between them, the ranger moved too fast for Dresmor to get a spell off in time. The arcane words were on his lips when one of Bishop's swords made a back swing for his head. Dresmor ducked the attack but a second blade moved to thrust in at him. By this time, Dresmor had reached the final spell word and a hail of magic missles shot out of his hand and into the ranger, forcing him back before his move could be completed.

Bishop held for a moment under the onslaught of magic energy being pumped into him. This was nothing compared to the jolt Dresmor's crystal orb had given him.

He pressed through the magic, his dual blades whirling in at Dresmor. The drow danced away from one and blocked the other with his armguard again, grabbing the ranger's arm after the attack connected. His free hand shot out and wrapped around Bishop's throat. That hand threatened to crush his windpipe and he briefly wondered how in the hells this drow could be so strong.

Dresmor was too close to attack with a sword, so after a moment of struggling with him, Bishop was finally able to get a foot up between them. He kicked the drow back. Dresmor stumbled away and Bishop used that moment to press another attack.

Dresmor dropped to the ground to avoid being beheaded and kicked the ranger's legs out from under him.

The moment Bishop fell, Dresmor was already getting to his feet, his mouth spewing out the words of another spell.

Bishop rolled to his feet but it was too late.

Flames crackled from the ground and shot up between them both, creating a great wall of fire. It forced them both to back away to avoid the searing heat.

Bishop scanned around and found that the wall of flame could easily be avoided on both sides by simply walking around it. He could've laughed.

He began to move around one side of the wall when Dresmor uttered another arcane word. The flames roared violently, making the ranger stop for a brief moment in alarm. And that was all the time the spell needed.

Two tindrils of flame snaked out from the bottom of the fire wall and encircled him, creating a ring of fire around him. Before he could react, the flames burst upward into a wall. Bishop shielded his face from the intense heat and realized, not for the first time in his life, that he was trapped.

His rage burned like the fire around him as all he could do was stand there and watch through the wall of flame as Dresmor collected Jaelyn and made his way into the village.

Bishop looked around his cage of fire for a way out. Jumping through would be out of the question. The flames were too thick for him to come out unscathed.

To make things considerably worse, he noticed that the fire was slowly closing in on him and it was becoming difficult to breathe.

If he didn't find a way out and soon, he was done for.

All hope now rested on the halfling still laying unconscious under a tree.


	43. Chapter 43: Failure

**xxxxxx**

* * *

**Chapter Forty-Three:**

**Failure**

**xxxxxx**

**The** voices raged inside her mind, a wild din of shouts, curses, threats and insults.

They were deafening, making it impossible to think. Every thought she tried to bring forward was smothered by their ravings.

In the darkness of her own mind, she tried to focus on one of the voices, a buoy to cling to to keep from drowning in the chaotic sea of hostility.

The voice she focused on was masculine, as were all the rest. He shouted against his knowledge and skill, all he knew in life, being passed away into this being, this unworthy one who was kin, and yet there was nothing he or any of the rest of them could do about it.

Centuries of knowledge poured into her mind, everything her ancestors' knew in life. Her brain became a siphon, absorbing it all in.

The transference of so much information took up every possible function of her brain. There was no thought, and she no longer registered the ravings of her ancestors. Her brain struggled to keep up and sort through all the information. There were continuous flashes of imagery, memories of magical and combat instruction that were not her own, whole tomes and codexes and lexicons and manuels on various subjects related to magic and combat.

When the transference of knowledge was done, her brain function slowly returned. With it came the excruciating pain, intense and overwhelming. It ripped across her mind, made it throb and pound with its own pulse. She could feel it behind her eyes and in her ears; she could feel it in her entire body. The pain robbed her of the breath to scream out against it. She convulsed under it as it violently churned her insides until she felt as if she would vomit.

The return of the enraged shouting in her head didn't help matters. She might have been able to endure it if their voices weren't so damn loud. It only increased the unbearable pain she felt.

Jaelyn summoned her will to she shout back at those voices.

_Shut up!...Shut up!...Or I will destroy you!_

This was met with silence.

Then laughing; a collection of laughter.

_Ah, there it is_, a deep voice said. _I knew it was there._

_Anger!_

_Delicious anger!_

_Yes, give in. Destroy us!_ said a mocking voice.

_You are nothing witout anger. Do you think you can defeat him without it?_ the deep voice inquired. _He will destroy you if you don't use it. Anger will make you strong, stronger than he is. Your newfound abilities are weak compared to his. But all you need to do to be more powerful is give in to that anger. Dresmor's abilities have never reached their potential, because he is weak-willed. You are not. You are strong in both will and anger._

_Don't even try it!_ she yelled back. _I'm not stupid enough to fall for your tricks!_

_Tricks? There are no tricks. Can you not see it? Anger will empower your abilities, as they did for us in life! Nothing will stand in your way! If you do not harness it, then all you love and cherish will die._

Corrupted versions of images, ideas, and hopes she held close to her heart flashed in her mind, all of them ending in tragedy, in death and pain.

Jaelyn tried to force them away, tried to push them out, but they pushed them back in, forced her to endure them.

_Get out!_ she shouted at them. _Now! This is my mind! I will not let you use it against me! I will not let you use them against me!_

But they did not relent, and each bloody image that crossed her mind attempted to pull the anger out of her. She steeled herself and fought against it, knowing what it would mean to give in.

_Use it against you?_ came the voice again. _You use it against yourself by not accepting what comes natural. If we were not meant to feel anger, if we were not meant to have it, it would not have been given to us._

_And the same can be said for love and compassion. We hold to what makes us strong. Love has made me stronger; hope has made me stronger, not anger. So, go on, say what you will, keep filling my mind with those terrible images; conjure up your worst. It won't matter. None of what you show me is real and it never will be. You have failed!_

In rage, they all lashed out at her, bombarding her with more gruesome images of loved ones in a last desperate effort to draw out her anger to its full potential.

She refused to allow all she loved and cared for to be used against her. It was not a weakness; it would never be a weakness. It was her strength.

With each terrible image they gave her, she countered them by conjuring her own memories; good and pure memories.

Jaelyn brought up the image of her mountain home, of standing with Elegy on the cliff that overlooked the land. She summoned that feeling she always got when she was up there, that feeling of being on top of the world, and held to it. She conjured the memory of the day she first met Quin, of seeing his grinning face as he ran toward her in the forest, fleeing the Shadow Thieves he had stolen from. His lyrical laughter filled her mind. Even running from those that sought to kill him, Quin had still acted as if he were having the best time of his life.

Jaelyn felt herself smile. She could still feel the anger of her ancestors' clawing at her mind, but it wasn't nearly as strong as it had been. They were fading away, but she hadn't won yet.

She summoned another memory she held close to her heart, a memory full of so much hope and magic and love. She saw herself locked in a passionate embrace with Bishop under the moonlight on a cliff that gave off a fantastic view of the ocean.

Their anger faded completely and she no longer heard their shouting and raging. All she heard was the sound of the ocean as she had heard in that memory.

Finally, she brought forth the memory of the fawn she'd found in the forest outside her home. She surrounded herself with the compassion she had felt for the wounded creature and the breathtaking feeling of serenity and warmth that came to her when she felt the divine presence of Silvanus and heard His name in the wind.

Her mind filled with pure, warm light and she heard the raving voices one last time. They shrieked as if in agony.

She felt their last desperate effort to claim her, a sudden wave of rage attempting to flood through her. She crushed it before it had a chance.

Overwhelmed by compassion and mercy, she spoke to her ancestors.

_If there is a way to break this curse, I will find it and I will free you._

Silence. Yet in this silence, she felt something from her ancestors that she had not felt before, and in all honesty, she hadn't thought they'd be capable of it. It was a feeling of despair with a conflicting sensation of hope. They _wanted_ to be freed.

It was the last thing she received from them before reality finally broke through.

When her environment focused around her, she found herself lying on the floor of a cave. The walls and cieling were awash in a strange green glow.

She sat up, one hand going to her head to massage the pounding in it. The other clutched the sword close.

Not far from where she sat was Dresmor, standing before the source of that eerie green glow.

It was a small pool of raw, bright green energy, swirling chaotically and emitting a small spark of green light every now and then. It hurt to look at directly.

She could feel that energy around them in the air. It made her tingle all over, the feeling reaching down to her very bones. The sensation wasn't unpleasant, nor was it pleasant. It just was.

Slowly and with the aid of her sword, Jaelyn got to her feet.

Dresmor sensed her movement and he shifted slightly to look at her over his shoulder, the green glow giving his face a particularly grotesque, demonic look.

He grinned a grin full of teeth, enhancing that demon look.

"Can you feel it?" he asked her and inhaled a deep breath, throwing his arms wide. "Power. And it will be mine."

"No, it won't." she replied, firmly, as she closed in behind him. She gestured her sword at him. "I will stop you."

He turned to her fully now. "That sword has given you a taste of power, and you dare stand there and tell me you do not desire more?"

"No, I don't." she replied without hesitation. "The whole reason I took the sword and what it offered was to stop you. Nothing more."

"Then our reasons are no different from each other. I will harness this power and crush the surface elves for all they've done to our kind!"

"You would use that power to destroy, to kill and murder!"

"Same as you. You will use the power of that sword to try and kill me."

"No, I...I _don't_ want to kill you!" she shot back, surprised by the words coming out of her mouth.

No matter how many times Gulaonar had told her that she had to kill Dresmor, no matter how much she tried to convince herself that he was right, she still did not want to. He was her father; he was part of who she was, whether he raised her or not, just as Nanethiel Sharpshadow was a part of her.

Jaelyn shook her head. "I never wanted to kill any of them, but they didn't give me a choice. _You_ are not giving me a choice."

"And I also am left with no choice."

"You are led by revenge, nothing else! You want to destroy them because of what my mother did to you."

A flash of rage, and-surprisingly-pain lit up Dresmor's eyes and face. "This has nothing to do with that bitch! Never speak of her to me!"

"What she did to you was awful," Jaelyn continued, calmly. "But what you want to do to the surface elves out of revenge is no different than what she did. It's not too late...father. You can turn away from this path, you can still be saved from this madness. Let it go. Let go of that hate. She's gone now, out of your life for good. She can't hurt you anymore unless you let her."

Dresmor's face contorted into a sneer. "Enough of this! Your words mean nothing and you will not stop me!"

With a few arcane words, he conjured a gust of wind that threw her backwards into the cave wall before she had a chance to defend herself.

She slid down the wall, unable to breathe and her vision darkened for a brief moment. Her back throbbed harshly from the impact, but she wasted no time in getting to her feet. She struggled to get up, using the sword and pressing her back against the wall to aid her in standing.

Dresmor was on her in a heartbeat. The moment she straightened up, his hand whipped hard across her face, splitting her cheek open and making bright spots explode across her vision. She put a hand against the wall to steady herself and tried to shake off the pain and ringing in her ears.

Dresmor grabbed her and struck her again and again.

Just as he was about to land his third blow, Jaelyn caught his hand and twisted it until she heard a pop. Dresmor let out a growl and slammed his other fist into her face.

She absorbed his blow, standing her ground under it and then rammed her foot into his stomach, sending him staggering backwards. He was able to keep his balance, but she now had the room she needed to work with.

Dresmor gave his oddly proportioned wrist a jerk and it gave another pop. She had only dislocated it.

Jaelyn took a step forward, pointing her sword at him, a look of fierce determination on her bleeding face.

"You can't possibly think you'll live through this. You're unarmed."

"And yet I will still destroy you."

Her eyes hardened. "We will see."

She advanced on Dresmor, her sword rising.

He shouted the words of a spell and the cave heated up as a wall of fire sprang up from the ground between them. Jaelyn skid to a halt to avoid crashing through it. Dresmor stared at her through the flames, laughing.

Jaelyn consulted her newly formed repertoire of arcane knowledge. The words to a spell came to her and she voiced them aloud.

A gust of wind blew forcefully into the wall of fire, forcing the flames out toward Dresmor. He jumped back to avoid being burned alive and at the same time, he commanded the flames to encircle and trap her.

She remained calm and unmoved as the flames caged her, her mind sorting through her arcane knowledge.

A proper spell came to Jaelyn. She spoke the necessary words and the cave temperature grew cold now as a thin layer of ice spread across Dresmor's wall of fire, smothering it and rendering her prison of flame useless.

She knew the spell wouldn't last long. She rushed after Dresmor, leaping over her rapidly failing ice spell.

Her father stared at her in slight surprise.

"You are more capable than I thought." he remarked with a laugh. "But no where near capable enough."

As he began voicing another spell, Jaelyn took the chance and attacked.

Her blade moved swiftly and expertly in arcs and thrusts that put Bishop's training to shame. Dresmor dodged her moves on the same expert level as her attacks as he continued speaking the words of his spell. His focus was impenetrable.

Jaelyn's sword swiped at him, making a keen whistle through the air and missed its mark. As she moved out of her failed attack into a new attack, the energy in the room intensified. There was a crack and a bright flash of blue as Dresmor's spell came to life. A jolt of lightning dropped on her, sending a wave of searing pain through her body. She cried out and dropped to her knee, leaning against her sword to support herself.

Dresmor spoke those same words again as she tried to pull herself up. This time the pain reached into her very bones. She grit her teeth as she dropped to both knees now and gripped her sword with both of her trembling hands to keep herself upright. She knew if she collapsed, she might not be able to get up again.

Dresmor stepped over to her weakened form and grabbed her painfully by the hair. He gave the sword a swift kick and sent it clattering across the cave. He jerked her head back and peered into her face with a sneer.

"You have failed to stop me, daughter." He spat the word with hatred. "Now, the time has come for your sacrifice."

Before she could reply, he gripped her hair tighter and dragged her over to the pool of swirling green energy. She fought against him, pushing and hitting at him, and even voicing a spell, but he leaned down and struck her so hard across the face that she almost blacked out. The blow left her dazed and disoriented.

Moments later, she found herself staring into that green pool, its glow almost too much to bear. There was a strange heat coming from it that warmed her in a way that scared her and left her in wonder.

Dresmor stared down at the energy with Jaelyn's hair still gripped in his hand. There was a deranged, evil expression on his face, a nasty grin of greed and satisfaction.

The words of his most prized spell, the spell he spent night after night memorizing for this moment, began to flow from his mouth, each syllable clear and commanding.

There were two versions of the spell, a lesser and greater. The words he spoke were of the lesser spell, a mere test to see its effects.

The cave's temperature rose with each word he spoke. The pool of energy began to swirl about more violently, emitting much greater sparks of green light. It began rising upward into a thin, whirling pillar. Dresmor's eyes showed his awe at such a sight but his mouth never ceased moving. Jaelyn tried to escape again, hoping he would be distracted enough not to notice. His hand gripped tighter into her hair, threatening to rip it out. She hissed and stilled.

The pillar was now a good six feet in height and to the shock of both drow, it began to take a shape, a humanoid shape.

Graceful arms and legs grew out of the pillar, the waist grew inward and flared out into hips, and the torso curved and mounded with what was unmistakenly breasts. A featureless, oval shaped face formed with two brilliant eyes of pure white light. Green glowing hair made of energy swirled around the head and figure.

Jaelyn stared at the green glowing woman before them in awe. Dresmor's spell words ceased, not because he had finished them but because he was struck speechless.

There was an intense moment as drow and otherworldly being all stared at one another.

Then the strange, glowing woman spoke in a pure, commanding and feminine voice that echoed through the cave and in the very minds of both drow.

"So, the disturbance I have felt for some time has finally decided to present itself to me. You are either foolish or suicidal. Which is it?"

**xxxxxxxxxx**

Bishop yelled himself hoarse trying to get the halfling to wake up, which made things for him considerably worse than they already were.

It was hard enough to breathe as it was; he needed to conserve what air he had, but he was using a good deal of it yelling and trying to kick dirt on the fire, which had been a waste of time. He couldn't get enough of it in his cramped space to bury the flame. He needed that damn halfling.

He considered for a moment the possibility that Quin might be dead, though he highly doubted it. He'd only been blown back into a tree by a gust of wind. Due to the thick flames, he couldn't see the halfling, but the last time Bishop saw him, it hadn't looked like he had any life-threatening injuries.

He just wished the usless little idiot would wake up.

His prison of fire was still closing in on him and he estimated it would be a matter of minutes before he was burned alive. Already his chest was tight and burning. The heat surrounding him was almost hot enough to singe his hair and clothes. It made his eyes burn and water.

He forced himself to keep calm; panicking would only rob him of more air, and for probably the hundredth time, he considered simply leaping through the fire. Standing there like that was unbearable for more than just the fact that death was literally closing in on him.

He felt utterly helpless and there was nothing he hated more than feeling helpless. On top of that was the feeling of failure.

His task should have been simple. All he had to do was protect Jaelyn and he had failed. That bastard had gotten away with her and he had been powerless to stop him. In the amount of time that had past since he'd left with her, Dresmor was probably already down at the Heart of the Island, performing his spell on her. For all Bishop knew, she could be dead already or had been driven mad by the sword, or only the gods knew what.

He knew he shouldn't blame himself, but he did. Dresmor had taken her while she was unresponsive to the world, defenseless, and that was precisely the moment she most needed his protection. He had failed her.

Bishop let out a frustrated growl and inhaled on the heated air around him to yell the halfling's name as loud as he could. It ended in a ragged cough and a painful burning sensation in his chest. It also left his head spinning.

In the end, his effort was useless. The halfling did not respond. He shouldn't have been surprised, considering how Quin usually slept. Jaelyn had said it better than anyone: Quin could sleep through an apocalypse. He wondered how the halfling would sleep after he learned he'd been unconscious through his friend's death.

_Useless idiot._

He stepped back a bit, deciding he had no choice in the matter anymore but to try to jump through his prison of fire. Quin wasn't going to gain consciousness no matter how much he screamed at him. He knew he would likely end up on fire, but what the hells? He was going to end up that way regardless, so he sure as the hells wasn't going to go out standing around like a moron.

And just as he was about to make that leap, the fire around him wavered, flickered and began to die down. For probably the first time since he set foot on that godsforsaken island, luck was on his side. The spell was failing.

He stared around as the fire quickly waned and the hot air turned much cooler, providing him with a chance to breathe in much more refreshing air.

When the dying flames were low enough for him to avoid harm, Bishop jumped over them and hurried over to the unconscious halfling.

Quin was sprawled at the trunk of a tree, his head tilted down, chin resting on his chest. There was a blood stain on the tree bark a few feet above the halfling's head.

Bishop bent down and looked him over for a moment, noting that there were no signs of him being impaled by any limbs or anything, and his neck wasn't broken. It looked like he'd just taken a blow to the back of the head.

He reached out, grabbed the halfling by the front of his armor and lifted him up a bit. With his other hand, he backhanded him hard across the face to bring him around.

It felt good doing it, as there had always been a desire in him to smack the little fool for all his irritating antics and all the inconvenient situations he'd put him in.

Bishop hit him again, much harder than he probably should have for its intended purpose.

Quin groaned and his brows furrowed. His hand reached to the back of his head and it came away with a splotch of blood on the palm.

Before he could even open his eyes to look at it, Bishop was hauling him up.

Quin blinked and frowned as he looked around at the dying fire and the absence of Jaelyn and Dresmor, rubbing his throbbing head. He finally rested his sea-blue eyes on the ranger.

"What in the hells happened?"

"That son of a bitch got away with her, that's what. Enough talk; let's move."

Before Quin could ask any further questions, Bishop was off toward the village in a sprint. He paused momentarily when something on the ground caught his eye.

He bent, scooped up the knife he had given Jaelyn and continued on, not bothering to check if the halfling was following him.

After retrieving his rapier from the ground, Quin jogged after him, trying to ignore his pounding head.

When they entered the village, there was still a bit of fighting going on around the southern approach of the village.

Bodies lay about the grounds, some dead and others gravely wounded. Most of the dead were drow, but there were a good number of native corpses. It looked like a third of their force had been wiped out.

The ones still alive and capable of moving around were joined with Olland and Grimnar at the south end, fighting the handful of drow that remained. It wouldn't take them long to deal with them.

So, it looked like the natives would come out victorious after all. Bishop could rightly say he was surprised. He hadn't been at all certain that they would be able to pull off his plan. It hadn't gone off without a hitch, but they hadn't fled or cowered when things got bad, either. These natives were a lot different than the ones they had met when they first arrived at the village. They were no longer helpless; they were no longer cowards.

As the clang and screech of metal against metal and the grunts of effort and pain rang out from the southern area, the ranger and the Shadow Thief made their way for Olland's hut.

Quin tugged hard on the ranger's arm.

"How did Dresmor capture her? What _happened_?" he demanded.

"She actually got her hands on that sword and..." he shook his head and looked anywhere but at the halfling, but Quin noticed the deep frown that came upon his face and the odd presence of concern in his eyes, anyway.

"I don't know." Bishop went on. "It did something to her; she wouldn't respond when I called to her. I...tried to protect the stupid girl, but that bastard conjured a wall of fire around me, trapped me." The last part was said through his teeth and with much anger. "Then I couldn't do anything. That's when he made off with her."

Quin watched him for a moment and then nodded. He offered the man a reassuring smile. "Then we'll just go in there and get her back. And...uh, it's not your fault he got away with her, you know."

That got the ranger to finally look at him. It was a smoldering look that could've melted metal.

Quin took a cautionary step back just in case. One of these days he was going to learn to think more carefully about what he was going to say before he said it.

"I didn't say it was." came Bishop's angered reply.

"I just meant..." Quin trailed off as Bishop simply walked away from him.

The halfling sighed and followed.

They were met with the drow Kalandiin at the threshold of Olland's shelter.

He was leaning casually back against the frame, arms crossed at his chest, blocking the entrance. There was a bloody blade hanging on his belt.

"Ah, I see you two ran into some trouble with Dresmor." he spoke, an all too unpleasant smirk on his face.

Bishop stepped up to him, giving him the same molten look he'd given Quin.

"Move or die."

With his smirk still in place, Kalandiin straightened and put up his hands in mock resignation. "I just thought I'd inform you that Dresmor took your friend down to the Heart-"

"Tell me something I don't already fucking know." Bishop snapped at him.

"...And he has warded the entrance to it." Kalandiin finished, unmoved by the ranger's tone. "You're not getting down there...unless you know how to dispell wards."

The ranger gave him a look that said he'd better be lieing and then shoved past him into the room with the statues and the entrance to the Heart of the Island.

The first thing he noticed was the old man lying dead on the floor between two of the statues, one of which was broken, the remnants of it laying around the body.

It was that prophet guy they'd met before, Akereth's father.

There was a pool of blood beneath the old man's head and his body was in a unnatural position. It looked like he'd been thrown with great force against the statue. It was likely that's what had broken his back, and then the fall must've cracked his head open.

"Oh, dear..." commented Quin from behind Bishop. "That's pretty brutal. I mean, he's old. It wouldn't have taken much to get him out of the way, but this is just overkill."

Bishop shook his head. "No, if it was overkill, he'd be in pieces. He's lucky the drow got to him before I did."

He stepped over to the door outlined in the wooden floor.

Upon looking at it, it looked no different than the last time they'd seen it. There was no way to tell just by looking at it if it was warded or not, but there was a strange feeling around it. His skin tingled; no doubt that was the physical presence of magic.

He knelt down as Quin moved to his side. Bishop reached his hand toward the door's handle. The tingling feeling intensified, turning into a burning sensation. Bright blue energy rippled around the door, tracing its outline before it expanded across the door's entire surface. The energy sparked around Bishop's hand, giving it a painful jolt.

He made a face and quickly brought his hand back.

"The drow was telling the truth."

Quin sighed heavily. "Great, what do we do now? Jaelyn's down there! We can't just sit around and let her deal with him by herself!"

"I know that already." the ranger growled at him. "Instead of stating the obvious, why don't you..."

He trailed off and stood up suddenly, making Quin take a step back. There was a thoughtful look on the ranger's face and Quin could almost see the metaphorical lightbulb flicker to life above his head.

He moved to the threshold of the room, giving Kalandiin a stern look. "Get in here. Now."

Kalandiin rolled his eyes and the moment he entered the room, Bishop grabbed him and shoved him toward the door in the floor.

Before the drow could even take his next breath, he found himself staring up the pointy end of the ranger's sword.

"Open that door." Bishop commanded.

Kalandiin frowned at him. "You're out of your mind if you think I'm going to do that."

Quin tugged on the ranger's arm. "Don't be crazy. It could kill him."

"I'm willing to take that chance." Bishop replied, keeping his gaze on the drow.

"I'm not." Kalandiin said, dryly. "I didn't escape a death by Dresmor's hand just to be killed by one of his wards."

"Do it, or I'll make you wish you'd been killed by him."

The drow snorted. "Anything you do will be pleasure compared to what Dresmor would've done."

"Think so? Dresmor likes beheading people. I like to take my time with them. And with that door shut, I've got all the time in the world to do what I want to you. Open it!"

"Go to the hells." Kalandiin said with a nasty grin. "She's dead, anyway. You've fail-"

Kalandiin's words ended in a groan of pain as a fist sailed into his mouth. He raised a hand to his bleeding lips and brought it away, staring at it in anger. He turned his head and spat blood and a few teeth out of his mouth before setting his gaze on the enraged ranger.

He gave him a gruesome grin. "Is that all you got?"

Bishop sat his sword calmly against a wall and offered the drow a disturbing smile. "No, it's not."

Several broken bones, a few severed fingers and many agonized screams later, Kalandiin was crawling towards the door to open it, a trail of blood in his wake.

Quin watched him, his face pale.

"Was all that really necessary?" His question was directed at the ranger and from across the room, out of the man's reach.

Bishop looked at him, his eyes still burning with anger, and gave his brusque answer. "Yeah."

He looked back down at the drow and frowned at his irritating slowness. "Hurry up. We haven't got all day."

Kalandiin groaned in pain and finally reached his good hand out toward the door's handle. His other hand, now missing two fingers and a thumb, was cradled against his stomach, staining his armor in his own blood.

The magical ward came to life again, crackling angrily around the drow's hand. Kalandiin hissed and finally grabbed hold of the handle. The blue energy snaked up his arm, burning into his flesh.

Kalandiin grit his teeth and pulled up on the handle, letting out a cry of both pain and effort. He had the door halfway up when the energy engulfed his entire body. His cries turned into screams as that blue electricity sparked and sizzled around his body.

His arm was getting weak as it trembled and struggled to hold the door up. That was when Quin could no longer stand it.

He jumped forward to help the drow, his hands entering into that current of energy. It crackled around his hands and up his arms, sending a wave of burning pain through him, but it didn't impede him. He forced himself to ignore it and yanked with all his might on the door.

It finally fell back with a bang. Drow and halfling fell away from it as the magic ward failed.

Kalandiin let out a final groan before blacking out. Quin lay on his back, grimacing at the tingling sensation in his bones. He slowly sat up as Bishop moved toward the hole.

The ranger paused to look at Quin.

"You coming or what?"

Quin stared at him, at the strange look on his face. It was firm with resolve and his gaze was fierce with determination. Quin had seen those things before, but never had they been as strong as they were now. The ranger knew exactly what he was going down there for. Although killing Dresmor had a lot to do with it, it also had to do with much more than that.

Quin gave his trademark grin and nodded. "You know it!"

He got to his feet and then halfling and human descended into the cavern that would lead them to the Heart of the Island and to Jaelyn.


	44. Chapter 44: Goodbye, Father

**xxxxxx**

* * *

**Chapter Forty-Four:**

**Goodbye, Father**

**xxxxxx**

**The** glowing woman waited patiently for an answer.

Though her question had been directed at Dresmor, Jaelyn still felt compelled to answer it. Whoever or whatever this creature was, she was powerful and certainly not one to be trifled with.

And yet Dresmor had the gall to ignore her question as if she hadn't even spoken, and asked his own.

"What manner of being are you?"

Silence.

The woman's glowing body shifted and for a brief moment it looked to Jaelyn as if she was struggling to hold her form together, then it became steady once again.

"I am not of your world." she spoke finally, her voice resounding off the walls of the cave. "I come from a world far beyond yours...one that is no more."

"No more?" Jaelyn heard herself asking.

The woman shifted, her bright white eyes staring intently at Jaelyn. It was as if the woman was stripping Jaelyn of her physical body to peer at the soul beneath. "It was destroyed in war with another world similiar to my own. I am the sole survivor, the last of my kind."

Jaelyn cringed. "Oh...I'm sorry."

The woman waved a dismissive hand. "I care not for your pity."

Jaelyn shook her head as she slowly got to her feet now that Dresmor was too distracted by the woman to stop her. "I didn't mean to offend you. What happened in this war? How is it that you came to be here? And why are you here?"

"My people were connected with our world; we were born from the great rivers of energy that flowed beneath the land. Always we were linked to those streams of energy; they flowed through us as blood flows through your kind. Our enemies knew this.

"In the war, my people had fought strong and with great courage, but it was not enough. Our enemies attacked us with disease. A considerable number of my people who were tainted were forced to sever their connection to the rivers in an effort to keep the enemy's poison from entering the life rivers. This left them too weak to fight. Our numbers thinned quickly. And when there was but a small group of us left, our enemies made their final move. They poisoned the life rivers themselves. Had there been more of us alive, we could have removed their poison before it could do damage, but there was nothing we could do. There was not enough of us. Our only choice was to sever our connection to our world and flee.

"We retreated under the surface of our world, to a hidden portal that would lead us to safety. Our proud cities crumbled as we fled and the land decayed and broke apart in our wake. I was ahead of them when I entered the portal, but when I reached the haven on the other side and looked back, there was no one. I waited and waited, but none of my people came through the portal. I knew then that they had died...and I was the last.

"I was weak from battle, and without the life rivers flowing through me, I was made even weaker, close to death, but I knew I could not simply stay there in that haven and let death take me. I needed to find a way to heal myself. So, I journeyed through many portals and gates, and through the very cosmos itself for a world that could renew my life. I finally found your world. Initially, I had merely stopped here for rest, but I could feel something familiar in the land, something that reminded me of home and when I tried to meld with this...insignificant speck of land, I found myself connecting to great, flowing streams of energy. The energies of this world are weak compared to the ones of my former world, but over time they have healed me and now I am as strong as I was before. Scarred, but strong."

There was a long silence after the woman finished her story.

Jaelyn stood there in awe, unable to wrap her head around all she had just been told or to actually believe that she was standing before a being from another world. Sure, she'd heard stories about creatures and entities from other worlds, but she'd never imagined she'd meet one of them. To her, and probably to most people, these things were just myths, obscure stories passed through generations; things not to be taken seriously. But how do you ignore solid proof, standing before you? And how do you accept it?

Her mind was blown away.

She hardly even registered Dresmor's voice when he finally spoke.

"What essence do you speak of?"

"Your people call it...magic, yes?"

"Magic?" Jaelyn replied, her eyes wide.

"I have learned much of your world since melding with it. Yes, these energies you would call magic. My being is made of those same energies."

As Dresmor stared at this strange being with a look of evil intent, Jaelyn's jaw nearly hit the floor.

"A being made of pure magic..." Jaelyn stared at the woman for a long moment and then shook her head. "Wait, don't you need...uh, permission or something from the gods to draw magic out of the world like this?"

"If I needed permission, then it has been given. None of these deities you speak of have come to me or spoken to me. Either they do not know of my presence or they do not care what I am doing."

"Won't your enemies come looking for you?"

The woman's bright white eyes turned flame red and it became obvious to Jaelyn when the woman spoke that this was a sign of anger.

"I wish they would. If I could crush just one of them...But no, they will not come for me. Why would they? They have succeeded. My world and my people are no more. It is unlikely that they even know I am the last. They will have assumed that all died with the decay of the world."

"Why do you go on when you are the last?" Jaelyn asked. "You must now live to the end of your days with the knowledge that you're the last, you must live knowing all you loved is gone...your home, your family and friends. It must be difficult to continue."

"I go on for them. Through me, they live, even if it is only through memory and emotion. All the death, that war, would mean nothing if I do not go on. I survived for a reason."

Dresmor gave her a sneering grin. "Indeed. It is merely a shame that it is not for the reason you think."

Jaelyn turned to him then, her fists clenching at her sides. "You're not going to use that spell on her. You will go through me first."

"As I intend to do and without much difficulty."

"Stop." the woman said, holding up a green glowing hand. "If this one intends to harm me, let him try."

Jaelyn looked at her, frowning. "You don't understand. He will use a spell on you that will suck the very life and power out of you to strengthen himself!"

"A spell...it must be spoken, yes?" the woman replied, calmly. "Do you honestly believe that he can speak those words before I attack him?"

"We will see, won't we?" Dresmor said.

"No, we won't!" Jaelyn shouted at him.

She knew the woman could defend herself if she needed to, but she had been through enough. The destruction of her home and the loss of her people...that was bad enough. She shouldn't have to deal with a deranged, power-hungry psychopath who wanted nothing more than to drain the life out of her. Jaelyn was unsure if his spell would even work on the woman, but she wasn't taking the chance.

She looked at the woman, her expression firm and resolute. "I will deal with him. This is my fight and you deserve your peace."

Dresmor laughed. "I will be doing her a favor. She will be released from her lonely existence."

Jaelyn moved, putting herself between him and the woman. "If she didn't want to survive, she wouldn't have fought so hard to. Your madness ends here."

Dresmor let out a growl and swung his fist at her, while at the same time he voiced arcane words.

Jaelyn's arm shot out to block his fist and silenced him with a blow to the mouth. His teeth cut into her knuckles.

He staggered away, but Jaelyn never hesitated to close in, a fierce expression on her face.

She moved in a combination of attacks, her fists a blur as they struck him repeatedly. Dresmor struggled to keep up with her. He was only capable of parrying a few of her attacks and he was too preoccupied with keeping up with her to utter any spells.

Jaelyn knew that as long as she kept up this speed, she would have him beat.

She pushed attack after attack, her mind running through the manuels of hand to hand combat that had been added to her knowledge. Her form moved as gracefully as a dancer's, her feet floating in and out of stances and her hands striking hard at soft targets. She was vaguely aware of how natural it felt. It was as if she had always known how to fight on this skill level.

On one of Dresmor's successful parries, he issued a counterattack, his first since their fight had begun. His hand struck at her and her left arm blocked it wide. She lifted her foot to slam it into his stomach, but his other hand shot out and grabbed it, giving it a nasty twist. Jaelyn threw her body in the same direction he twisted her foot to keep him from breaking her ankle and used the momentum to swing her other foot into his face.

They both crashed to the floor.

Jaelyn was on her feet first.

She moved quickly over to her sword, noticing in dismay how close it was within Dresmor's reach.

He noticed this as well.

His hand fell on it before she could reach it. Jaelyn altered her path and made for him instead. He threw out his hand toward her, shouting words to a spell.

A brilliant flash of white light filled her vision, blinding her. She threw up her hands to shield her eyes and stumbled away.

Dresmor, with sword in hand, jumped to his feet. When the light faded, he thrust the weapon at his disoriented daughter, the blade aimed for her chest.

Jaelyn opened her eyes a second too late. She could do nothing to defend herself in time.

In those brief seconds of which she was certain were all she had remaining, Jaelyn heard a keen whistling noise. It was followed by Dresmor's shout of pain.

His arm jerked and he dropped the sword at her feet.

Jaelyn blinked, her eyes wide as she stood there in utter shock and surprise to the fact that she was still alive when she was supposed to be dead.

She vaguely heard someone shout her name, but she was too stricken to look around and see who it was.

Dresmor looked down at his arm, at the dagger sticking out of him just above his iron armguard. He grabbed the hilt and yanked it out with a growl.

Jaelyn immediately noticed the familiar bone handle and curved blade of the weapon.

She snapped back to reality and looked around, finding her friends standing at the entrance to the cavern with their weapons drawn. She smiled at them and wanted nothing more than to rush over and embrace them, but the fight was not finished.

Jaelyn sensed sudden movement and when she looked back at Dresmor, he was reaching down for the sword.

She quickly slammed her foot on the blade, cocked her elbow and threw it into Dresmor's face, breaking his nose in a spray of blood.

He staggered back with a growl, wiped a hand across his bloody nose as he regained his composure and then sliced the dagger at her. Jaelyn ducked low, grabbed the sword from the ground and slashed upward at her opponent as she straightened up. The blade came within an inch of cutting into Dresmor's stomach, but he evaded quick enough to save himself.

He followed up with an attack of his own, the dagger first thrusting in at her only to be blocked. It then cut at an angle toward her throat. Jaelyn bent back a bit to avoid it. The weapon came back on a downward slice and it was met with her blade. Jaelyn forced the dagger up with her sword, opening up Dresmor's midsection to attack. She kicked him back a bit, just enough to give her sword some room to manuever. Jaelyn followed immediately with the same attack she had made on Bishop not long ago after Feral's burial. Only this time the attack was not made in blind rage. It was aimed perfectly, came in with the right amount of force, and was too quick to be avoided.

The blade sliced across Dresmor's chest and stomach, biting deep and forcing a pained cry from the drow. Blood dribbled out of the wound. Jaelyn followed her attack with another, one that would end the bastard's life. She thrust her sword in at his stomach. It went in a mere inch before Dresmor dropped the dagger and halted her blade from going in any further, holding the flat of it between his palms. All that kept it from ending his life was his own strength.

Jaelyn met his eyes, her expression firm and determined.

"You had your chance to turn away from this." she said to him.

She pressed her sword forward.

Dresmor grit his teeth as he pressed his palms more firmly onto the blade, the edge cutting into his hands. He began backing away to lessen the press of the sword, but he knew this was a mistake, for he was backing towards the cavern wall.

He didn't have a choice.

"No." he growled. "It will not end...not now, not like this! You will not defeat me! You will not-"

His words ended in an agonized groan as his back finally hit the wall and the blade sank into his stomach. His eyes widened and he tried to say something but all that came out was another terrible groan.

Jaelyn stepped back and ripped her sword from his gut.

Dresmor held his hands over his fatal wound and slipped to his knees before her. Blood poured over his hands.

"This...can't be."

Jaelyn looked down at him. There were tears in her eyes. "All you had to do was turn away from the path you were on. Some part of you had to know your plan would never succeed."

He gave a pained laugh. "It might have. I simply never expected you to kill your own father."

She grit her teeth. Her tears spilled over onto her cheeks. "You left me with no choice."

He laughed again. "You are more drow than you think."

Anger coursed through her at his words. "Don't confuse my intentions with your own. I did what had to be done for a greater good, to protect what you would have destroyed in hatred!"

"You will come to see my reasons for this one day. You will come to see that the...Unh!..." he paused as a wave of deep pain passed through him. "...that the elves of the surface deserve what I would have done to them."

Jaelyn shook her head. "No, I won't."

She bent to retrieve her dagger from where Dresmor had dropped it and then turned away from him to make her way over to the strange, green glowing woman, who had been watching everything unfold in an impassive manner.

"Finish it!" Dresmor called at her back. "Finish what you started, for I am not yet dead."

Jaelyn paused in her steps to look over her shoulder at him. "You want it to be quick. That is a mercy you don't deserve."

She faced forward again and stood at the edge of the pond of green energy, which swirled and sparked beneath the woman's feet.

"You should have peace again." Jaelyn said to the woman. "The drow on the island should have been taken care of. I doubt any that still live will pose a threat to you or the natives. Things will be getting back to normal here now. Well, back to whatever is considered normal here."

"Indeed." the woman replied. "I thank you for what you have done here. This...is my home now. And the natives, as you call them, have inadvertently become my people. I have been quite limited in what I can do here and I have not always been able to help the natives. Without the help of you and your friends, I doubt the natives would've survived the threat they have faced. Though you have done a great deed, I do have something more to ask of you."

"What is it?"

"I ask that you do not reveal my true form to the natives."

"Why not? Don't they deserve to know?"

"The natives are happy as they are and as long as the magical energies keep flowing through your world, I will remain here and watch over them the best I can. I will remain that vague divine presence they call the Heart of the Island. To strip them of all they've ever known and based their religion and origins on would devestate them."

Jaelyn nodded. "I agree, though I wonder if you simply want to hold onto the rank of 'divine being'."

"No." the woman replied, unoffended. "It was never a desire of mine to become a divine being to these people, but it is what I must do now."

"Then your true nature will remain a secret."

"Thank you. And now what of him?" She pointed at Dresmor.

Jaelyn looked over her shoulder at him. He was sitting with his back to the cavern wall in a slumped, limp position and in a puddle of his own blood. Jaelyn could see that he was still breathing, albeit slowly. His death was coming slow.

"He'll die soon." she said. "One of the natives will be down to retrieve his body. No doubt they won't want his rotting corpse defiling sacred ground."

"Very well. I will now return to my 'disguise'." the woman stated. "Again, thank you for your deeds this day and may we never meet again...at least not under these circumstances."

With that, the woman began to lose her form. The bright white lights that were her eyes faded and then her body seemed to melt until it reunited with the pool of green energy.

Jaelyn sighed and turned away to join her companions.

The trio stood there in silence for a few moments, looking at each other. Quin was the first to break it.

"Are you all right?"

"I don't know." Jaelyn replied, shaking her head, her eyes welling up again. "I know what I had to do, but...he was still my father."

"Is that why you didn't finish him off?" Bishop inquired.

She didn't answer.

"Who was that glowing woman?" Quin asked.

"The Heart of the Island."

"But...I thought the Heart of the Island was magic?"

"She is."

"Huh?"

Jaelyn sighed and laid a hand on the halfling's shoulder. "A long story, my friend, and one I would rather tell over a strong drink and a hot meal."

"Good idea!" Quin piped. He looked up at her and grinned. "It's finally over. We won, Jae."

"I guess so." she replied. "I want to thank both of you...for being there. I couldn't have done any of this without-"

"Here she goes again." groused the ranger with a roll of his eyes.

Jaelyn made a face at him. "Stop interrupting me. Everytime I try to tell you how I feel you cut me off."

"I already know how you feel. You don't have to spout it at me every chance you get."

"You'd think you'd want to know how much you're appreciated and loved."

"Didn't need it before and don't need it now." Bishop replied. "If we're done here, let's go. It's a long trip back to the surface and the sooner were out of this hole, the better."

Jaelyn shook her head and reminded herself to be patient with him. It wasn't easy. Sometimes she just wanted to smack him.

"All right." she said. "Just remember not to say anything to the natives about what you saw down here. I doubt they'd believe it, anyway, but it's better to not take the risk."

"But don't they have the right to know the truth?" Quin asked.

"It's not our place to interfere." she replied. "We've done enough of that already. If the woman wants them to know, she will tell them herself. And that's the way it should be."

Quin made an uncertain face. "I guess..."

"So you won't say anything?"

The halfling shook his head. "Of course not."

Jaelyn nodded. "Right." She looked at Bishop with an expectant expression.

He snorted. "As much trouble as they've put us through, I should tell them. They damn well deserve it."

Jaelyn frowned, heatedly. "I swear to the gods, if you say something, I'm going to rip your arm off and beat you to death with it."

He smirked at the threat. "Relax, drow. It's not even worth the effort. Like you said, they probably wouldn't believe it, anyway."

With that, he turned away to make for the tunnel that led back to the surface.

Quin tugged on Jaelyn's arm. "Let's go!"

He jogged off after the ranger.

Jaelyn remained there a moment longer, looking around the cavern as if already recalling what had happened there after a long absence. She then gave a deep sigh and followed after her friends.

Across the cavern, with his back still to the stone wall, Dresmor fought his end while his blood continued to pour from the wound in his stomach.

In a final act of hatred, he reached a weak hand to the wall, pressing it flat against the stone, and with his final breaths, he spoke the words of a spell. Then he died with a smile on his face.

The floor and walls shook and vibrated. There was a loud crack and a rumble as the stone arc of the entranceway to the cavern and the wall above it fissured.

Jaelyn had been approaching it when she saw it happen. Her friends were right below it; there was no time to consider what might happen to herself. They would be crushed if she didn't react.

Jaelyn dashed forward, yelling for them to run.

As was most people's reaction, they both turned around to see what was going on.

Jaelyn entered the tunnel a moment before the stone came crashing down in pieces, giving her friends a shove away from the collapsing entrance.

The tunnel filled with Jaelyn's cry and the sound of falling rocks.

Then there was nothing but silence...and darkness.

**xxxxxxxxxx**

When the dust settled, Quin lowered his arms from his head and looked up and around, wincing slightly from the numerous cuts on his face and arms.

He couldn't see a thing. The tunnel was pitch black.

There was dirt and dust in his nose, mouth, and throat. He coughed and spat it out as he pushed himself up from the floor, wondering what in the hells had happened.

The entrance had collapsed, that much was obvious, but he wondered what had caused it to do so in the first place.

If it hadn't been for Jaelyn he would surely be dead right now. Jaelyn...

_Jaelyn! Oh, gods!_

Quin, in a panic, began feeling around the ground, hoping and praying to come in contact with her, hoping and praying that she was all right.

"Jaelyn!" he called out. "Where are you?"

No answer.

He next called out the ranger's name and there was no answer from him either.

Quin's heart sank.

_What if they're both...No! Don't think like that!_

He continued feeling around until he finally came in contact with someone. Relief filled him. By the sensation of leather and hard muscle under his hands, he knew he'd found Bishop.

By the rise and fall of the man's chest, Quin knew he was still alive, but when the halfling called his name again, he still did not respond.

In the utter darkness, Quin couldn't tell if he had any injuries. If he did, touching or moving him would likely make them worse.

He called for Jaelyn a final time and when he got no answer again, he decided he had no choice but to try to get a response out of Bishop.

He shook the man repeatedly, calling out his name.

It took a few tries but the ranger finally gave a groan as he came to with a massive headache.

The ranger slowly sat up, raising a hand to the back of his head where that agonizing pounding was coming from. It came away a bit damp. There were other cuts and bruises on him, but they were nothing compared to that ache at the back of his skull.

"What in the hells happened?"

"Cave in, I guess." came the halfling's voice from beside him.

Bishop tried in vain to see Quin through the darkness. There wasn't a speck of light anywhere.

"I can't find Jaelyn." the halfling went on, his voice quivering. "I-I called to her, but she doesn't answer. What if...What if she's...gods...she can't be!"

A hand fought through the darkness and grabbed the halfling's shoulder. It was a strong, painful grip.

"We can't do anything in this dark. Go find some light."

But Quin remained there, near hysteria. There were tears on his face. "She just can't be, not after all this! Gods! Why her? She's our friend! If she's gone...she died because of us! She saved our lives, but she-"

A loud smack resounded in the tunnel, echoing along the walls. Somehow, the back of Bishop's hand found the halfling's face.

"Stop blubbering and go find some fucking light!"

Quin held a hand to his stinging face. Although shocked that he'd done it, the blow had still succeeded in clearing the halfling's mind of the depressing thoughts of death.

He hopped to his feet, his heart racing with the spike of adrenaline that ran through him.

"Where?"

"There was another cavern back the way we came. There was a torch there. Be quick about it."

"Right!"

Without further ado, the halfling made his way back through the tunnel as quick as he could manage in the darkness, keeping one hand out in front of him for any obstacles and feeling along the walls with the other to give himself direction.

The only thing that mattered to the halfling was finding that torch, and by the gods, he would find it.

While Quin made his way back, Bishop felt along the floor, trying to locate where the cave in was.

There was a terrible knot in his stomach and an ache in his chest that he blamed on the cave in. In the back of his mind-the part he tended to ignore most of the time, as he was trying to do now-he knew it had nothing to do with that.

He knew what he would likely find under all those damn rocks: Jaelyn's crushed form. She couldn't survive that.

He tried to shut the thought out, as well as the fact that she had likely given her life for him; he tried to ignore the image of her dead, broken body that kept flashing across his mind, but those things remained to torture him as he continued to feel along the stone ground.

His hands grazed over pebbles and pieces of rocks until they finally touched the wall of broken stones. He ran his hands over them to get an idea of how big they were, if any of them could be moved. He knew it was a bad idea to move any rocks before he had light to judge the structure of the collapse, which areas were weak and would likely collapse further if he removed any of the stones, but at this point, he simply didn't care. She was under there somewhere, and he was going to get her out.

Bishop began carefully removing what rocks he could, starting from the top and working his way down.

Some time later, he had a good number of small rocks laying behind him and still a good deal more to move in front of him. He was exhausted and sweating from the toil, but he didn't pause. That was, until his hand grazed something of a different texture among all the hard, cold stones. It was something soft and fleshy.

His heart was pounding as he moved what rocks he could from around the soft object, eventually uncovering a hand, by the feel of it. It was a small hand, one he knew well, for he'd held it before, knew its softness.

It was only slightly warm and he was uncertain if the fading warmth was because she was dead or because it had simply been surrounded by cold stones.

Regardless, he gripped her hand tight, letting her know, if she was alive and conscious, that someone was there.

There was no response to his touch.

"Drow!" he called out.

Nothing.

"Jaelyn...answer me, damn you!"

There were several agonizing moments of nothing, then he felt the slightest pressure of her hand as it tried to squeeze his.

He let out a breath, relieved that he'd finally gotten a response from her and wasn't wasting his efforts on a dead body.

"Keep hanging on, drow."

Bishop removed a few more rocks from around her with his free hand. There were too many of them, and as far as he could tell, she was buried deep under them. It was a wonder she was still alive.

He paused, wiped his brow on his arm and cast a look over his shoulder in hopes of seeing the flicker of a torch making its way toward them. There was nothing but that endless dark.

Where in the hells was that halfling?

A soft moan brought his attention back around to Jaelyn. Her hand tried to squeeze his again, but the pressure was much weaker than it was the first time.

He heard her voice then, muffled and filled with pain, but he still understood her nonetheless.

"Hurts...everywhere."

"Don't think about it." he replied. "Think about something else."

He felt a tremor run through her. "Hurts...too much."

Bishop frowned. "Don't give me that. You survived two crossbow bolts in the back, drow imprisonment, and whatever that sword did to you. This should be nothing."

There was a long moment of silence before she spoke again, her voice weak and barely audible.

"Sorry."

"I don't want to hear it." he said, angrily. "I just want you to live."

There was another long moment of silence from her. Then:

"Sleepy..."

"Don't close your eyes; don't give in to it. Keep talking to me."

"I'll...try..."

"No, there's no trying. If you want to stay alive, you'll do it. Tell me what happened in there, in that cavern."

So she did. It hurt to even talk, but underneath all the agony, she knew he was right. If she didn't stay conscious, she was going to die. So she recounted what had happened in the cave earlier, keeping her mind focused on the events and away from the pain trying to drag her under. Her voice was slurred and weak when she spoke.

Sometime later, the walls of the tunnel were beginning to lighten and Bishop looked back over his shoulder to see the halfling returning with the torch.

Quin was out of breath when he reached the man's side.

The first thing he noticed was the hand Bishop held in his own.

A look of deep anxiety and concern creased the halfling's face. "Oh gods...is she...is she alive?"

"For now." the man replied. "Set up that torch somewhere and help me move these damn rocks."

Quin nodded and set the torch in the pile of broken stones behind them, wedging it between two rocks to hold it in place. He then moved to help the ranger.

It took a lot of time, over thirty minutes or so to move the rocks, and it took good judgment to know which rocks to move to avoid the mass from collapsing further on top of the drow. Any more pain and she would no longer be able to fight; the temptation to free herself from the agony would be too much.

When they had her completely uncovered, Bishop immediately noticed that one of her legs was broken, the other was tucked beneath the broken leg, had been saved from being crushed. Her body was curled up a bit, her right arm, which was also broken, covered her head. If she hadn't done that, more than likely her head would've been crushed by the rocks. She was conscious still, but she looked dazed and disoriented.

She was cut up and bruised all over, but as far as he could tell none of her injuries were life-threatening. Cuts could be bandaged and bones could be mended.

He bent down next to her to check her head, neck, and back for any abnormalities. It all looked fine, so he gently moved her until she was laying flat on her back and them motioned to the halfling for light.

Quin brought it over, holding it just out of the way of anyone getting burnt.

They both noticed it at the same moment, the large shard of rock embedded in Jaelyn's chest, dangerously close to her heart. It was in deep, blood seeping out from around it, leaving a good portion of her top soaked in it. The shard was too deep to be removed at the moment; it was probably keeping her from bleeding to death.

"Hells."

Quin blinked back his tears. "That's not good. That's really not good. We have to get her out of here."

"Her arm and leg need to be splinted first." And as Bishop said those words, he realized he had nothing to splint them with.

So, he did the next best thing. He pulled off his shirt, found his knife on Jaelyn's person and used it to cut the garment into strips of cloth.

After several agonized cries from Jaelyn, he had the broken leg splinted to her unbroken one. He looked up after the task was done to figure out what to do with her arm and noticed her eyes struggling to stay open. His heart sank.

"No!" he shouted at her to no effect. He leaned over her and smacked her face lightly. "Open your eyes."

His hand slipped beneath her head, raising it a bit off the ground, hoping the movement would cause her to open her eyes. At the same time, he kept smacking her face with his other hand. "Look at me."

Her brows drew together and she let out a moan. There was an annoyed expression on her face when her eyes opened once again to mere slits. Weakly, she reached out with her good hand to slap his away from her face, whimpering when a wave of deep pain crashed through her.

He grabbed her hand, held it, and smiled down at her. "Stay awake and I won't have to do it."

Trusting that she would remain conscious, Bishop set about putting her right arm in a sling, the best he could do for it with nothing to splint it to.

"Will she be all right?" Quin asked from behind the man.

He shrugged. "The bones will mend...the other wound doesn't look good." He moved closer to Jaelyn, preparing to lift her up. "Lead the way out, half-man, and fast."

Quin moved without hesitation, making his way down the tunnel a bit to light the way.

Bishop lifted the drow up with him as gently as possible. When her head fell against his shoulder, he held her a little more tighter against him.

"Stay with me." he said to her in a voice only loud enough for her to hear, then he followed after the halfling.


	45. Chapter 45: Broken

_As usual, sorry for the long wait. Life and my laptop have been giving me hell lately. On another note, the final chapter will be uploaded in a few weeks. I wanted to warn you now since I'm turning 28 next Tuesday and my birthday always comes with a bout of depression. Add to that the fact that I'm sad this story is at it's end and I won't be writing as much as I should be. I've had so much fun with this story; I don't want it to end, but end it I must. Well, enough of my crap._

_Enjoy!_

* * *

**Chapter Forty-Five:**

**Broken**

**xxxxxx**

**It** was close to an hour before they finally reached the surface.

Quin came up through the door first, the torch in his hand and found Olland and Grimnar waiting nearby, both looking haggard from the recent battle.

Their leather clothes were splotched here and there with blood, none of it theirs and they still had their blood-stained weapons out. Both had some kind of look of anxiety on their face.

Kalandiin was conscious and sitting with his back against a wall while one of the native women tended to his injuries.

Quin stepped away from the door as Bishop came up behind him with Jaelyn limp in his arms.

She'd blacked out halfway through their trek in the cave tunnels, but the ranger had to give some credit to her strength; she'd stayed conscious longer than he thought she would, considering the extent of her injuries.

Although he would probably die before he admitted it out loud, he really wished there was something he could do for her, but her injuries went well beyond his healing skills. Her life was in the hands of the natives now, something he wasn't exactly comfortable with. They may have done a good enough job on her crossbow bolt injuries before, but the ones she had now were a lot worse. It didn't look good for her.

Olland immediately came up to him, staring at the unconscious, bleeding drow with a mixed look of concern and sadness.

He started asking questions, but seeing as how their translator was near death, Bishop and Quin didn't understand him.

"He's asking what happened to her." Kalandiin said from his spot on the floor, his voice hoarse.

"Part of the cave fall on her." Quin replied, sadly. "Messed her up pretty good."

"Yeah, and the more time we spend standing here talking about it, the closer she's getting to death." Bishop growled, a mélange of emotions colliding with each other inside him. The cruel things were using him as a battlefield.

Without waiting for a reply from anyone, the man proceeded through the shelter and out into the village. He sought out the healer woman's hut. He couldn't remember her name at the moment. Something with a T.

He only got halfway across the village when a few of the uninjured natives came after him, seeing Jaelyn's injured form in his arms. They spouted questions at him in their tongue, accompanied by a tone of concern. He ignored them and kept walking. The halfling tried in vain to keep them at bay.

When Bishop found the woman's hut, there was a group of natives standing outside around the threshold, and there was a commotion coming from inside.

He carefully backed his way through the small congregation in an effort to avoid bumping the drow into anyone and further upsetting her injuries. A slow murmur passed through the gathered as he made it to the threshold.

Inside, the healer woman-Tega, that was her name-was up to her neck in patients. Her helpers were moving about the hut, doing what they could to assist in the healing.

One native man with a bandaged leg got up from his bed and limped his way over to Bishop. He tugged on the ranger's arm until he got his attention and then pointed to where he'd been laying a moment ago.

Bishop took the drow over to the vacant bed and very gently laid her on it. He then looked around for Tega and waited a whole of ten seconds before walking over to the woman and dragging her to the drow's bedside. He gave the woman a look that meant business and then pointed to Jaelyn.

"Top priority. Got it?"

The woman looked at him for a moment in confusion and Bishop was seconds away from using violence to make her understand.

Fortunately for the healer, understanding came a moment later after looking closely at Jaelyn's injuries. The woman frowned and began issuing orders to her helpers as she continued looking over the drow's injuries. Two women began gathering up supplies and the others began ushering out some of the patients so they had room to maneuver, this included Bishop and Quin.

The ranger stopped at the threshold, however, and looked back.

The women were gathering around Jaelyn, working on removing the strips of cloth he had used to tie her legs together with.

One of them looked up at him and said something, but he wasn't paying attention. He was focused on Jaelyn.

He hadn't really gotten a good look at her until now and he hated what he saw.

She looked so small, fragile and helpless; the complete opposite of the drow he knew and maybe even...

_No. Don't. Not now._

It shouldn't have been her lying there. That damn opening in the cave shouldn't have collapsed the way it did. There was no reason for it to. None of it made any damn sense!

Bishop felt a tug on his arm, drawing him out of his head.

"Come on," Quin said, his voice soft and grave. "Give them room to work."

The halfling then turned away and stepped outside. He sat down on the crude porch, leaning his head back against one of the carved wooden support poles. He closed his eyes for a moment and sighed as he tried to keep his mind clear of all the negative thoughts that were trying to crowd in. Now was not the time for such thinking. He needed to stay positive.

His friend would live. She had to live.

Quin heard footsteps then and opened his eyes to see Bishop standing there at the threshold to the hut, looking off across the village with a deep frown on his face.

"What do you think her chances are?" Quin asked him, though a part of him knew he shouldn't have even bothered. Bishop was a terminal pessimist.

The man finally made a predictable move.

He shook his head. "Not good."

Despite the fact that he expected it, Quin was angry with his answer. "Why? Why do you have to say that? Why can't you be positive for once?"

He scoffed. "You can be as damn positive about it as you want. It's not going to change anything. It's not going to gurantee she lives."

"Well...maybe we could pray for her or something." Quin suggested.

Bishop gave him a look of outrage. "_Pray_? To what, exactly? Prayers are worthless, no different than trying to think positive about it."

"Well, what, then?" the halfling demanded. "We just sit here and wait, not doing a damn thing for her?"

"There's nothing to be done about it!" the ranger shouted at him in frustration. "It's out of our hands; deal with it!"

He turned away from the halfling and started to march off.

"Where are you going?" Quin called after him.

"Anywhere that isn't here."

Truthfully, the whole situation was as maddening to him as it was for the halfling, if not more so. He simply couldn't wait around to see if she lived or died. He knew if he did he would start thinking about things he didn't want to think about and eventually those thoughts would drive him insane.

He needed to keep himself busy until the news of Jaelyn's death or recovery came. He didn't care what he did as long as it kept him from thinking.

Bishop decided he would see to his weapons. His bow was still missing and his sword was still stained in blood. They had also left Jaelyn's sword in the tunnel. He knew if she lived, she would want that weapon.

He switched directions and headed for Olland's hut. Getting the sword now would save them from having to retrieve it later. He was hell-bent on getting off that island as soon as possibe.

Bishop found the leader of the natives standing outside of the shelter with that brute Grimnar and the drow Kalandiin. There was also a child with them. Bishop recognized him as the kid he and Jaelyn had saved during the fighting. The little group was engaged in conversation up until they noticed him approaching.

Olland turned to the ranger with a grim expression and started speaking in drow.

"He says he's glad you're here. There's a matter that needs to be dealt with." Kalandiin translated.

Bishop rolled his eyes. "What now? Was saving their worthless lives not enough?"

Kalandiin translated to Olland, who frowned.

"He says he's grateful for that, but this matter is yours. He understands that your friend's life is hanging by a thread at the moment and he's sorry about that, but it's time you faced judgment for the man you murdered." Kalandiin smirked. "And here I thought Dresmor was the only murderer around here. I guess I was wrong."

"Shut up." Bishop snapped at him. "Fine. You want to pass judgment on me for giving that bastard what he deserved, so be it. I don't really give a damn and it's not going to matter, anyway."

Olland's frown deepened.

"You're not remorseful for taking his life?" Kalandiin asked for the native.

Bishop laughed at the very idea. "No, I'm not. I'd do it again. He kept trying to steal something that belonged to me, so he paid the price."

"That's not the way he heard."

"He heard wrong, then."

"What did Akereth try to steal?" Kalandiin translated.

Here, the ranger's gold eyes darkened with anger. "Jaelyn."

Kalandiin laughed. "So, you killed some native out of jealousy?"

Bishop glared at him. "It had nothing to do with jealousy. Like I said, he was trying to steal from me."

Kalandiin rolled his eyes and translated what had been said to Olland. The native seemed to ponder this and then shook his head.

"But she's not property." Kalandiin said. "She belongs to no one but herself."

The ranger shrugged. "Maybe so, but that doesn't mean she isn't mine in another sense. That little bastard didn't think about that when he kept making moves on her, even after he had fair warning to back off from both of us. Anyone who makes a move on her or lays a hand on her, dies. Period. I don't give a damn if you think it's right or wrong. That's just the way it is."

Olland stared for a long moment at Bishop, then turned to Kalandiin to speak to him.

"He says he can understand this, the desire to keep someone you love from being taken from you-"

"I didn't say I loved her." Bishop cut in, hastily.

"...but it still should not have resorted in Akereth's death. The problem could've easily been resolved without violence."

It was on the tip of his tongue to say 'maybe I wanted to resolve it with violence', but he held back.

"If it were up to him, he would see to it that you receive the same punishment you saw fit to give Akereth for his crime, but it isn't up to him." Kalandiin translated. "It's up to Akar, the last living relative of Akereth."

He gestured to the child, who looked up at Bishop with a grim expression. The ranger scowled.

_Just my rotten luck. I'm going to be sentenced to death by a damn kid._

Not that he was going to let it get that far. That didn't make the situation he found himself in any less screwed up, though.

He crossed his arms over his bare chest and waited for the verdict.

It took a few minutes for the child to decide Bishop's fate, a deeply thoughtful look on his young face.

"The kid remembers you from the fighting." Kalandiin translated for the child. "Says you helped save his life. He knows he would be dead if you hadn't helped."

The boy pointed around at all the places in the village where corpses had been layed and were being prepared for the death rites.

"There's been enough death today. And since you helped save him and his people, you should be spared. He hopes you'll learn to understand the mistake you made when you killed his brother."

Olland shook his head with a sigh.

"So be it. The child has spoken." Kalandiin interpreted.

With those words, the boy, along with Olland and Grimnar, turned away and walked across the village toward the healer's hut.

Kalandiin scoffed. "That child isn't very bright, is he? Sparing a man who took everything from him."

"The only thing I took was his brother's life. It's not my fault his fool of a father got himself killed, too. Besides, he's still got his life." Bishop said.

"Some life it'll be. Alone, with no one to care for him."

"Better than being dead."

"Is it?"

Bishop scoffed. "What would you know about it, drow? Your kind enjoys killing kin. Family means nothing to you."

Kalandiin grinned nastily and shrugged. "I was only going by what humans cherish, anyway. Well, most of them. Somehow, I doubt you share the human view that family is important; it matters nothing to you. You should have been born a drow; you would fit right in with us."

"Go to the hells."

"I will await you there."

In that moment, Bishop wanted nothing more than to smash his face in. Instead, he simply walked away. He'd get the bastard back later and in a manner that would be much more satisfying than knocking a few of his teeth out. He would ensure that the bastard rotted on the island.

The man headed inside Olland's hut.

He found the door to the cavern still open and descended the stairs. He traveled a ways until he came to the first cavern with the strange symbols and writing on the walls. Bishop took one of the torches down and continued his way further through the tunnels.

Sometime later, he finally made it to the cave-in and found Jaelyn's sword laying in the rubble, emitting its dark purple glow.

It wasn't until now that he realized his dilemma. There was a high possibility that the sword would do something unpleasant to him if he touched it. But he hadn't walked all that way for nothing. He was bringing it back, one way or another.

Bishop knelt down on one knee and unlaced a boot. He then got up and went to the sword, using his foot to move it out of the rubble. He bent down to it and began tieing his boot string just under the weapon's cross piece.

He was glad he'd taken caution with the sword. Every time his fingers grazed it as he tied the string to it, it made his skin tingle and there was a strange sensation in his head, like something was trying to claw at his mind. Just those brief moments of contact had an intense effect. He could only imagine how it had been for Jaelyn.

When the string was tied, he lifted it to see if it would hold the weapon. Satisfied that it would, he made his way back up to the surface, making sure to keep the sword out and away from him.

When Bishop reached the hut, he continued out into the village and toward Jaelyn's shelter, casting a quick look in the direction of the healer's place. He could see the halfling still sitting on the porch with a worried look on his face. Apparently, there was no news on the drow yet.

He looked away and kept walking, pushing the thoughts of her out of his head.

After leaving the sword inside her shelter, he headed back to his own place to work on cleaning and sharpening his weaponry, what was left of it.

All of his throwing daggers were gone, were now to the hilt in some drow's corpse and he had no clue where his bow was. The only thing he had left was his longsword.

Some ranger he was; he couldn't even keep up with his own weapons.

Inside his shelter, he was surprised to find his missing bow laying on the rickety table next to a jug of what he assumed and hoped was whiskey. Now, more than ever, he needed a strong drink.

He stepped over to the table and examined the bow for any damage first.

The string was in fair shape and the wood of the bow itself was unmarred, although the grip was worn from use. It looked the same as it always did.

Next, he unbuckled his sword belt, took up the clay jug, and sat down in a chair, laying the sheathed sword across his lap. He popped the cork out of the top of the jug and took a long, deep drink from it, thoroughly enjoying the burn the liquid left in its wake.

He sat the bottle down between his feet and then unsheathed his sword, holding it up horizontally in front of his face. He stared at the dried blood on the metal, feeling a deep dissatisfaction in his soul at knowing whose blood it wasn't and whose blood it should have been.

He took an old piece of cloth off the table, the same one he'd used to clean his sword with before the fighting started, and dipped it in a small bowl of water nearby. With angry strokes, he removed the blood from the metal's surface. That feeling of dissatisfaction would not go away.

The only thing he had been capable of doing to Dresmor was putting his skinning knife in his arm. That wasn't good enough for him. Not now.

He wanted someone to blame for why Jaelyn was in that healer's hut, struggling to stay alive; he _needed_ someone to blame. Dresmor was a prefect candidate. It was simply a shame that he was already dead. He wished the bastard was still alive so he could kill him himself.

It shouldn't have been her. It shouldn't have happened.

His vision began growing hazy in his building anger. He couldn't control his thoughts; they kept coming back to her, kept torturing him with the possibility that she might die and there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it. It was the most maddening, unbearable feeling; being helpless.

In his anger, he stroked along the blade too hard. His palm slipped from over the cloth and met the razor-sharp edge, the metal slicing deep into his hand.

That was all it took to unhinge him.

He stood up from his chair, his sword in his uninjured hand. He clenched the injured one into a tight fist that sent pain shooting through his hand and up his arm. Blood seeped through his fingers, dribbling on the floor. That pain mingled with his rage, intensifying it until he literally saw red.

For one brief moment, he trembled in his anger, then every muscle tightened up. He could feel tension building in his throat until it burst out of him in the form of a shouted swear.

He swung around and furiously hacked the table with his sword until the wood surface cracked and splintered. Unsatisfied, he turned on the wooden pole that held the small structure up and hit repeatedly with his weapon, each impact sending a vibration through the steel and up his arm. It still didn't help. He flung the sword across the shelter and kicked the clay jug of whiskey, sending it shattering against a wall. He next took his anger out on the chair, which he smashed repeatedly on the floor until it was in pieces.

Outside the shelter, the entire village could hear the cacophony of his rage-induced outburst, but none dared to investigate or put a stop to it. In fact, natives who happened to pass near his shelter quickly ran away or changed direction altogether. They'd all had enough violence for one day.

A good thirty minutes of this madness went by until finally the hurricane of enraged shouts and the sounds of things being broken died down.

Inside the shelter, Bishop fell to his knees in exhaustion.

The red haze over his vision was gone now, but his sight was still blurry. His heart was pounding so hard he feared it would burst inside his chest. He found it difficult to breathe and his head was spinning.

Feeling a bit nauseated, he sat back against a wall and tried to regain his breath.

Despite the lingering side effects of letting his rage out, he actually felt a little better. But he knew that wouldn't last long.

**xxxxxxxxxx**

Several hours after nightfall, Quin walked in a daze toward Bishop's shelter.

The healers had finished with Jaelyn. They had fixed her leg and arm, splinting both so the bones would heal properly. They had also removed the shard of rock from her chest. The process had cost her a good deal of blood and the wound was severely infected. The healers had done what they could for her, but with the infection, her chances of recovering were not good. In fact, Tega, the lead healer, had said it would be a miracle if she survived the night, but the woman didn't intend to give up on her. She would remain nearby until Jaelyn recovered or died.

The halfling stopped at the threshold to the shelter, staring inside with wide eyes.

It looked like a hurricane had blown through it. The place was a disaster.

Earlier, he'd heard the commotion coming from the shelter, but he hadn't thought it was this bad.

The remnants of a chair were scattered in every direction, a table was broken in half, the bed linen had been torn to shreds, pillows had been ripped open, the stuffing spread across the shelter and there were shards of pottery everywhere. The former bed was now nothing more than chunks of hacked up and splintered wood. Not even the support pole that held up the shelter had been spared. Deep slices had been taken out of the wood with a sharp instrument.

Quin blinked, shook his head, and stepped inside.

He found the ranger sitting on the floor with his back against the wall. He was quietly and casually sharpening his sword. One of his hands was wrapped in a bloody cloth.

"What in the Nine Hells happened in here?" Quin finally spoke, looking around at the destroyed shelter again.

Bishop looked up at the halfling, his face blank. "I decided to redecorate."

Quin stared at him, unnerved by the man's vacant expression and the hollow tone of his voice. He seriously wondered if Bishop had finally gone insane.

"Uh...are you all right?"

"Fucking perfect."

The halfling frowned. "Really? Because you don't seem all right at all."

Bishop narrowed his eyes at the halfling, his vacant expression turning into one of menace. "What do you want?"

Quin backed away until he was standing in the threshold. If the man decided to get violent again, he wanted to be as close to escape as possible.

The news of their friend definitely wasn't going to sit well with him. There was no telling how he was going to react, especially after seeing what he'd done to his shelter.

"Well, I came to tell you about...about Jaelyn." Quin said, nervously. "But first, don't kill the messanger, okay?"

"Just say it." the man replied through his teeth.

"Well, the healers did what they could. They fixed her leg and arm; both should heal properly. But when they took that shard of rock out of her chest, she...she lost a lot of blood and the wound is really infected." Quin's face turned grim and sad. "She...her chance of recovery isn't good. Tega said it'll be a miracle if she survives through the night."

The man didn't say anything. He merely looked away from Quin and stared across the shelter, a brief look of pain on his face. Inside, he could feel the despair beginning to well up to the surface. He tried forcing it down. He wasn't going to let it happen. She wasn't going to make him worry about her; she wasn't going to make him sad.

He closed his eyes and kept forcing the emotion away, kept pushing it down until he felt the way he wanted to feel: cold and numb.

Quin noted his struggle. Cautiously, he stepped a bit closer to the man.

"Look," he said. "She's strong. She'll-"

"Get out." His tone was cold and deadly.

Quin stared at him, confused and alarmed by his tone. "Wait. I-"

"Get out now, or so help me, I'll tear you apart."

"But-"

Bishop got up, clenching his hand around his sword.

"I'm gone!" Quin squeaked and ran out of the shelter as fast as his short legs could propel him.

The halfling looked back to make sure the man wasn't pursuing him and let out a sigh of relief. He slowed his pace and made his way toward the healer's hut.

It was strange, but a part of him actually felt sorry for Bishop. For that brief moment when Quin told him about Jaelyn, he looked...heartbroken. It was nearly impossible to think that anything could break his heart, but Quin had seen the proof on the man's face, even if it was for a second. What else could it have been?

The halfling stopped, looking back over his shoulder at the ranger's shelter. He expected to hear the sounds of shouted cursing and things being broken in fury but they never came. The only thing he heard was the scrape of whetstone against steel as the man obviously went back to sharpening his blade.

Quin let out a sigh and returned to the healer's hut.

Inside, he found Tega and her helpers working on the other wounded.

While he had been gone, they had stripped Jaelyn of her clothes and layed cold wet rags on almost inch of her body, only avoiding her broken arm and leg and her chest wound. He knew why this had been done. It was to keep her fever down. The herbs they had given her earlier weren't strong enough to fight it off, so they had to resort to cooling her body off as best they could.

There was a helper sitting on the edge of her bed, dabbing Jaelyn's face and neck with a wet rag.

Quin came up to her and reached out, taking the rag from her. He made gestures to the woman, ones that told her that he would take over this job.

The woman nodded, patted his cheek and got up to see to the other wounded.

The halfling took her place on the bed and looked down at his grievously wounded friend. She looked nothing like the drow he knew, but like someone standing on Death's doorstep. Despite her dark skin, her face and lips were pale. She looked frail and sickly, and her breathing was shallow. Her chest wound was bandaged but the skin around it was an angry red. Little red vines of infection were starting to spread out from it, a bad sign considering how close it was to her heart. If it couldn't be controlled soon, the infection would reach her heart and kill her.

Tears filled his blue eyes as he patted her face and throat gently with the rag.

"You have to live, Jaelyn." he spoke softly, his voice quivering. "You have to. You can't die on us, not now, not after we won. You'll break my heart if you die. You don't want to break my heart, do you? Please, hold on, Jaelyn. I know you can."

The tears in his eyes slipped down his cheeks and he wiped them away with his arm as he continued to pat her down with the wet rag.

Quin stayed there with her through the night, talking to her and taking it upon himself to keep her body cooled down as much as possible. Every hour, a healer came by to administer more herbs to fight the infection. The wound on her chest was still surrounded by a web of red lines, but, fortunately, they had not spread out. The herbs were working slowly to fight it off.

When the morning sun rose up on the horizon and lit up the island, Tega came by to check on Jaelyn.

Quin was asleep in a chair across from the drow's bed, snoring lightly. He'd tried to stay awake, but after the physical and emotional turmoil from the previous day, he had been beyond exhausted.

The healer put her hand on his shoulder and shook him awake.

Quin blinked open his eyes with a yawn and sat up in his chair, looking up at Tega. The native woman offered him a soft smile and then moved to Jaelyn's bedside.

She removed the wet rag from the unconscious drow's forehead and laid the back of her hand on it. After a moment, she moved her hand away and took hold of her wrist.

Her smile widened when she looked at Quin again. She gave a nod as if to tell him things were starting to look good for his friend.

Quin's eyes widened with hope and he smiled. Tega reached out and patted his shoulder. Before she could draw away, Quin grabbed her hand and kissed it repeatedly.

"Thank you!"

The woman didn't need a translation to know he was grateful. She laughed and went to see to her other patients, her face flushed.

Quin pulled his chair closer to the bed and reached out to take his friend's hand in his own. He pressed his cheek against it, that smile still on his face.

"I knew you could do it." he spoke softly to her. "I knew you could hold on."

After a while of sitting with his friend, Quin got up and headed out into the village.

He made his way for Bishop's shelter to give him the good news; maybe it would cure his foul mood or at the very least, maybe it would keep him from destroying anything else in the village.

But when Quin got to the shelter, there was no sign of the ranger. The shelter still looked like a disaster area, but Quin was able to note that not only was the ranger missing but so were his things.

The halfling stood there in the threshold for a moment, scratching his head in confusion.

It wasn't a surprise for Bishop to disappear without telling anyone, but usually when he did this, he went light, carrying only a weapon. This didn't sit well with Quin. It was like the man had left, not expecting to return.

Where exactly did he think he could go on this island? He couldn't leave it; the boat wasn't completely built yet.

Quin was clueless. Maybe he simply needed to get away from the village for a while.

With a shrug, the former Shadow Thief left the shelter and strolled across the village square.

On the south end of the village, a group of children and a few native women were just returning from the forest. He spotted Gulaonar at the back of the group.

For him to be with them, the natives must've gotten rid of the crystal pendants the drow had been wearing when they attacked the village.

The few natives that were out and about hurried over to the group to greet them. There was a lot of hugging and smiling and crying. One of the native women, carrying an infant in her arms rushed off toward Olland's place, a little boy on her heels and clinging to her skirt.

Gulaonar floated his way over to Quin, a small smile on his ghost face.

"I'm glad to see that you are all right." he greeted. "I see the natives were victorious."

"Of course!" Quin replied with his inane grin in place. "It was a walk in the park."

"Somehow I doubt that, but it doesn't matter. Dresmor is gone, along with his army. These people will have their peace now." The ghost peered around. "What of Jaelyn?"

The halfling let out a sigh. "She was wounded pretty bad. She took out Dresmor in the cavern under the village, where the Heart of the Island is. On our way out, part of the cave collapsed on her-"

"What?" Gulaonar cut him off, a look of deep concern on his face. "How? Is she all right?"

Quin's expression turned grave. "She almost died; she's not out of the woods yet, but Tega thinks she's doing better. I don't know how it happened. It just...happened. She risked her life to save us. Bishop and I would've been crushed, but she got us away in time and the cave-in fell on her instead."

Gulaonar's face creased in anger. "I knew that man would be a threat to her life! If she only would've listened to me and stayed away..."

"Hey, come on," Quin said. "You can't pin this on him. I mean, it wasn't only his life she risked her own for. I was there, too. Besides, even if she didn't feel the way she does about us, she still would've tried to save us. That's just how she is. You know that."

The ghost sighed. He knew the halfling was right. He just wanted someone alive to blame for what had happened to Jaelyn and the ranger was an easy target.

"The worst part's over." Quin pushed on. "She made it through the night; she'll survive."

Gulaonar nodded. "That she will. Surviving is something she does well."

"You should go see her. She's not awake yet, but maybe she'll know you're there. The only visitors she's had are me and the healers."

That angry look was back on the ghost's pale face again. Quin wondered what he'd said wrong.

"She put her life on the line for that..._man_, and he doesn't even have the decency to visit her?" Gulaonar replied in outrage.

"Wha-"

"I guess it's asking too much!" he cut the halfling off. "Gods forbid he should actually do something decent for once in his miserable life!"

"Wai-"

"What am I saying?" Gulaonar continued to rant. "Decency! As if the man even knows the meaning of the word!"

"But-"

"Where is the bastard?" he demanded an answer from Quin.

Quin let out a sigh. "That's what I've been trying to tell you."

He explained to Gulaonar about the ranger's strange behavior, about how he was a bit more edgy than usual and how Quin had found the interior of the man's shelter utterly destroyed when he came by to tell him the unpleasant news about Jaelyn.

"This'll sound really strange, unbelievable even, but I swear, for a brief moment, he looked really...broken. Then he was his vicious self again."

"You're right." Gulaonar replied. "That is unbelievable. I don't buy it for a second."

"There's nothing he can gain from pretending to be upset about her."

"I still don't believe it."

"Well, anyway, after learning this morning that Jaelyn is recovering, I went by to give him the good news, but he was gone; him, his belongings, and everything. I don't think he intends to come back."

"There's no where for him to go."

Quin shrugged. "Maybe he just needs some space, or time to think or something. If he actually cares about her, then all that's happened has probably left him feeling like he's been punched in the gut by a storm giant."

"I don't give a damn how it's left him feeling. It's no excuse to abandon her like this." The ghost scoffed. "Well, I suppose it's for the best. She's better off without him."

Before Quin could reply, Gulaonar floated off toward the healer's hut, fading through one of the hide walls. The halfling followed a moment later, returning to his friend's bedside, where he remained until she gained consciousness.


	46. Chapter 46: Miracle

_The end turned out longer than I expected and had to be split into two chapters. I apologize for the long update._

_Enjoy!_

* * *

**Chapter Forty-Six**

**Miracle**

**xxxxxx**

**Green** eyes fluttered open.

Her vision was unfocused and weird shapes swam before her. It was impossible to tell what they were.

From close by, someone said something. It sounded like her name, but the voice was dull and suppressed as if she was underwater and the person was speaking from the surface.

As Jaelyn began to gain full consciousness, the pain from her multiple injuries crashed through her mercilessly. She let out a moan of agony. To her own ears, it sounded like a dull whimper.

That voice from before came again. She couldn't understand it, but there was a tone of concern in it.

She looked around slowly for its owner, trying to focus her vision on the large shape at her left.

As it finally sharpened into clarity, she saw the face of her best friend staring down at her. There was a smile on Quin's face but there was also a deep furrow in his brow.

His hand reached out and stroked her hair.

"Can you hear me?"

Jaelyn tried to speak, but was only capable of producing a small, weak sound. Her throat was as dry as sand and for the first time since waking, something other than pain came to her: thirst.

Quin's hand stilled in her hair. "Don't try speaking. Just relax. Give it time."

Jaelyn sighed and closed her eyes for a moment, feeling greatly relieved inspite of her physical pain.

She couldn't remember anything after the cave in. She was glad to see that her friend was okay, that she had been able to save him from being crushed.

And that was when she realized something. Someone was missing.

Her eyes snapped open again and they darted around the room, seeking out the ranger. But he wasn't there.

Instant dread weighed down on her heart.

Her eyes, now filled with panic, came back to Quin. In them were the questions she wasn't strong enough to voice. _Is he okay? Did he make it? Where is he? Oh, Gods, Quin, tell me he made it._

"What is it?" Quin asked, alarmed by the look on her face and in her eyes. "What's wrong?"

Jaelyn tried to speak, tried to say the ranger's name, but it wouldn't come out.

She tried to move, to sit up, but her broken arm and leg prevented her from doing much, and the pain robbed her of what little strength she had. Her breath came labored now and tears burned her eyes. They pleaded with Quin.

_Please, tell me he's okay._

But Quin didn't understand what she wanted. His hands pressed lightly on her shoulders to get her to stay still.

"You shouldn't be moving around so much. You have to relax, Jae."

Those tears in her eyes came down her cheeks.

The halfling frowned. "What's wrong? Are you in pain?"

Jaelyn gave her head a weak shake. Well, she was in pain, but that wasn't what was really bothering her.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath to try and calm herself. Then she swallowed hard to moisten her throat with what little saliva she had.

When she reopened her eyes, they stared straight into the halfling's ocean-blue ones, and she forced her voice with all the strength she could muster.

"Bishop." she croaked.

She saw something in the halfling's eyes then that made her heart lurch. It looked like regret.

The tears came again and she let out a remorseful whimper.

"Dead?" she croaked again and her frail form began shaking with weak sobs.

Quin's eyes widened as he finally realized what she had been trying to get from him. He shook his head, wildly and stroked her hair to calm her.

"No, no." he said. "He's all right, Jae. He's just fine." _At least physically_, he thought, but didn't dare say out loud.

Her sobs continued, but they were now ones of joy.

The overwhelming relief she felt took its toll. While the tears poured down her cheeks, her eyes drifted closed and she lost consciousness.

Quin was glad she did. He wasn't looking forward to telling her that the ranger had disappeared, most likely ran away from her and the situation, and wasn't coming back.

**xxxxxxxxxx**

The next time she came around, she was much more lucid and the pain wasn't nearly as bad as it had been the first time she'd awoken.

Quin was still at her side, sitting in a chair beside her bed.

He had an elbow resting on one of the chair's arms, his hand supporting his head. His eyes were closed, but Jaelyn wasn't sure if he was asleep or not. Maybe just dozing.

She looked over toward the hut's door, saw that it was dark out, and wondered how long she had been unconscious.

It felt like years. Decades, even.

Jaelyn looked back at her friend.

"Quin." Her voice came easier now, but it was still a croak. She really needed something to drink.

The halfling stirred and sat up. He offered her a sleepy smile.

"Hey. How're you feeling?"

"Better."

He nodded. "You look better."

Jaelyn glanced down at herself and decided Quin was just trying to be nice. She looked exactly how she felt: like a wreck.

"How long have I been out?" she asked.

"Well, the first time was the longest. You were out for three days." he replied. "The second wasn't that bad. Only a day."

"No wonder I'm dying of thirst."

Quin got up from his seat. "I'll go get you some water."

But Jaelyn halted him before he could get to the door. "What you should get is rest, Quin. I have a feeling you haven't been sleeping. You look exhausted."

"Well, I slept some." he said. "I didn't sleep a wink the night the healers worked on you. We thought you were going to die. You almost did."

"Well, I'm not dead, so you can sleep now. Stop fretting over me like a mother hen. I'm fine."

Quin laughed and rubbed the back of his neck. "All right...but after I get you some water. I'll have Tega come in and look at you, too."

Jaelyn was about to ask him where Bishop was, but the halfling escaped through the threshold before she could.

She would ask when he returned.

While she waited, she stared up at the thatched roofing with a frown. Something didn't feel right with the ranger's absence.

Even though he was still struggling with his softer emotions, she would think he would want to visit her to see that she was all right, or at the very least, to berate her for putting her life on the line for him.

By now, he had to know that she was alive and recuperating. So, why wasn't he there? Why wouldn't he come see her?

Something just wasn't right.

Any further thoughts toward this were put on hold when Quin returned with a clay jug and cup in his hands, followed by Tega and a small troop of natives. The natives stood around the threshold, staring in at her like she was some new, exotic guest. Some were grinning from ear to ear and others waved at her.

Jaelyn rose a brow and then her hand, returning a small wave to be polite, even though they were making her uncomfortable.

"What am I? Some kind of freak show?" she asked.

Quin laughed as he sat the jug and cup on the table near her bed. Tega moved to the other side of the bed and began looking over Jaelyn's chest wound, lifting the bandage there a bit, then she moved to her broken leg.

"They're just glad you're okay." the halfling said as he poured her a cup of water.

"That's fine and dandy, but they don't have to stare like that. I'm self-conscious enough with you fretting over me."

She took the clay cup of water from Quin when he offered it and gulped it down greedily. She then held the cup out to him, shaking it, indicating she wanted more. He refilled it for her. This time she drank more slowly, savoring it.

After a moment, she looked at Quin, that nagging question on her mind.

"Where is he?"

Quin pretended like he didn't know who she was talking about. He was simply stalling the inevitable. "Who?"

She frowned. "You know who. Why won't he come see me?"

Quin sighed and flopped down into his chair. He shook his head, solemnly. "You shouldn't be worrying about him now. You should focus on getting better."

"I'm good enough. I'm awake and talking." she replied with impatience. "Tell me. I know something's wrong."

"Well...okay." The halfling heaved another sigh. "He's gone."

Jaelyn's brows furrowed. She didn't quite understand him. "Gone?"

"Yeah. He left the village, took everything with him. I doubt he's coming back." Quin shook his head. "I don't know where he went or why he left, but I could make a guess..."

Jaelyn stared at him, wanting him to continue. "Well?"

"He's lost it."

She frowned. "What do you mean 'lost it'?"

"He's gone nuts, he's off his rocker, he's around the bend, loony, crazy, insane-"

"Okay, I get it." she cut him off. "What makes you think so?"

"You should see what he did to his shelter." Quin replied. "Tore it apart. I'm surprised it's still standing. I found him not long after he did it. He was just sitting in there like nothing had happened, sharpening his sword. He looked...empty. Then I told him what Tega had told me, about it being a miracle if you lived. He was heartbroken. I know it; I saw it. Even if he did threaten to tear me apart at the time. It was there for just a second, but a second was enough. You don't forget a look like that."

Jaelyn's frown deepened. Tears stood in her eyes. "Quin...you have to go find him and bring him back. I don't like the way this sounds. He needs to know that I'm alive, that I'm okay."

"I don't know..." said Quin, thoughtfully. "Wouldn't it be better to let him come back on his own?"

She shook her head. "I don't think he'll come back if he thinks I'm dead. Please, Quin. If there's a chance he's suffering, then he does so needlessly."

"And what if I tell him you're okay and he still doesn't want to come back?"

Her face became sad. "Then...that's his choice. I won't force him to come back."

Quin reached out and clasped her good arm, giving it a squeeze. "I'll tell Gulaonar to go search for him. He'll find him faster."

She only nodded and wiped the tears from her face with the hand she could still move.

**xxxxxxxxxx**

The ranger stood near the ledge of a cliff, leaning back against a tree with his arms folded at his chest.

He stared out at the sparkling water, a morose expression lining his face.

It had been five days since that night he'd learned Jaelyn was as good as dead, five days since he'd lost it, and he was no where near regaining anything.

The intense anger and despair still had a firm grip on him and he wondered if it would ever let him go. The anger wasn't so bad, he could deal with that easily enough. It was the despair he was still fighting to keep down. For the most part, he had kept it at bay, but every once in a while, it would barrel past his defenses and rip through his insides like a hot, serated blade. Those moments were the most unabearable, for when they came, they came slow so that every harsh stab to his heart, every searing tear at his sorry little soul could be felt on a level he'd never felt before. It was by his own survival instinct that he fought it. He knew if he allowed that despair to reign in him, it would kill him. Perhaps not physically, but there were plenty of ways for someone to die. He should know. He was more or less dead inside before she had revived something in him.

What made it all even worse was the fact that after he departed the natives' village, he had come to this place, this damn cliff that held so much memory for him. He still wasn't sure why he was there in the first place or why he hadn't left yet when the place brought pain. He wasn't thinking when he left the village, at least not about where he was going. The only thing that had mattered then was just getting out of there, and so he'd let his well-traveled boots guide him while his mind tried working through all the turmoil. Those boots had brought him there.

He just wanted to forget that any of it had ever happened, but it seemed nothing was going to allow him this mercy. Maybe he didn't deserve it.

He had considered leaving, but some unknown force was keeping him there. It was like he _needed_ to be there, though for what purpose he had no clue. There was nothing there but that memory of her and a kiss, and that was doing a hells of a fine job strengthening his depair.

He would never share a kiss like that with her-with anyone- again. The magic was gone, because she was gone.

Gone. Dead.

_It's her own fault. If she hadn't been foolish enough to love me, she wouldn't have risked her life in that cave..._

But then he wondered if that was actually true. If it had been anyone else, Olland or Grimnar or that kid, hells, even that bastard Akereth, would she have done the same thing, risk her own life to save theirs?

He thought she would, because that was _who_ she was. And there was no changing that.

No matter how dark her roots, she was good, pure, and wonderful.

Perhaps it was best that she was gone. Nothing so good belonged in such an ugly world, but yet at the same time, he wanted her there, he _needed_ her there, and he didn't give a rat's ass how selfish it was. All he knew was, despite all the shit they'd gone through, all the arguments and physical fights they'd had, all the struggling, he wanted to be with her, he wanted her in his life...because he loved her. Gods, how he loved her, how he loved loving her, how he hated loving her...how those feelings raged inside him, made him feel more alive than he'd ever felt before.

But she was gone and she'd taken any hope he still had with her.

The despair came then, worse than it ever had before and he couldn't fight it off. It flooded through him, stealing every bit of strength he had.

Bishop grabbed his head as if he were suffering a sudden migraine. His inner turmoil came to an alarming, agonizing crescendo. As he slipped gracelessly onto his knees in the sun-warmed grass, he let out something between a roar and a wail, something between rage and sorrow, an intense vocalization that spoke volumes of how unfair it was, how he wished he could change it...how it should've been him instead of her.

And there was a witness to this moment.

Standing not far from the ranger was Gulaonar, an expression of deep sympathy on his ghostly features.

Truly, the departed drow had never thought he'd feel an ounce of compassion for the man, but he did now, simply because he had been wrong about him. He had been certain there was nothing in this man but a hatred for everything. Given the things the ghost knew about him, it should have been true, but something good in him had survived the past. No matter how insignificant it might have been in the beginning, it had gradually become a bigger part of him. And that part loved his niece.

Gulaonar moved in his unheard manner toward the angry, despairing man kneeling in the grass.

"There is no need for this suffering." he said.

Startled by the unexpected presence, Bishop snapped his head around toward the ghost and rose up quickly from the ground, looking like someone who'd just been caught doing something unsavory(which was more or less true for him).

His golden eyes narrowed and his expression turned vicious simply out of reflex. The ghost had just witnessed probably one of the weakest moments in his life. Bishop had to make it known that no matter how fragile he may have just seemed, there was still a brutal animal inside him.

He wished with all he had for Gulaonar to become a physical, tangible thing; something he could strike at, something he could hurt and take his anger out on.

"Don't fucking tell me not to-"

"Calm yourself." the ghost cut him off, gently. "I have not come to squabble with you."

"Oh, _really_?"

Gulaonar ignored his tone. "I have come here on behalf on another. It was Jaelyn's wish that I come find you, to end your..."

Bishop didn't hear the rest. He'd stopped listening after the mention of her.

That vicious expression was replaced by one of shock. For a moment, he couldn't speak.

He'd been certain that she was gone. How was this possible?

"You seem surprised." Gulaonar noted.

Bishop shook his head as if to clear it. "It's not everyday someone comes back from the dead."

"She wasn't dead to begin with."

He frowned. "That's not what that useless little half-man said! He'd said it would be a miracle..."

"If you'd been there, then you might have witnessed one. She is alive and well."

Bishop couldn't describe the relief he felt then even if someone paid him a boat-load of gold to. It was the cure for everything in him that was hurting.

For a moment, he stood there fighting the urge to run back to the village to see her, then with an inward _Fuck it_, he bolted off. He didn't care about fighting it, he didn't care about weaknesses or the consequneces of love; he didn't give one damn about any of that anymore. All that mattered was she was alive.

**xxxxxxxxxx**

Jaelyn sighed as she stared through the threshold of the healer's hut, a bored look on her face.

She'd been couped up for five days and it was already driving her mad. With a month and a half of recovery time left, she wondered if she might die of the boredom to come.

Damn broken bones. Where was a cleric when you needed one?

Her only entertainment was playing cards with Quin when he wasn't helping the natives or listening to Olland tell her stories about his people whenever he had time to drop by, but with him helping with the repairs in the village and generally trying to get native life back to normal, there wasn't much time for story-telling. And, although she loved Quin to death, she was tired of their card games(mostly because she kept losing at them).

Sometimes, she got a visitor or two, grateful natives bearing gifts of gratitude, usually in the form of beautiful flowers or fresh fruit. One child had constructed a blue-beaded, shell necklace for her, which she currently wore and hadn't taken off since receiving it.

When she was left on her own, her thoughts were on a certain ranger missing in action. Five days was a long time to be gone, even for him, and although she knew that there was no where for him to go, she still found herself afraid that he wouldn't come back.

If it came down to that, she would let him go. She wouldn't try to convince him to stay with her, no matter how painful it was to have him walk away. It was his decision and she would have to live with it. She just wanted him to be happy, even at the expense of her own.

It was going to be one hells of an awkward boat ride home if he'd decided to have nothing to do with her anymore.

"Look who decided to stop by for a visit!" came a familiar voice from the threshold.

Jaelyn grinned, seeing Quin standing there, holding her baby half-sister in his arms, struggling a bit with her wiggling form.

The halfling crossed the shelter to her bed. "I thought you might like to have her company since you haven't seen her in a while."

"Of course!" she replied, reaching out with her good arm for the child.

Quin leaned forward to shift Baeylene into her arm, adjusting her so Jaelyn could hold her without too much trouble. He then sat back in his designated chair by her bed, propping his feet up on the straw-stuffed mattress and lacing his hands behind his head.

Jaelyn smiled down at her infant sibling. The baby smiled back and then yawned.

She looked a lot more healthy, well-fed and cared for. Jaelyn hoped that would remain so when the child came into her care once again.

"Olland's wife-I think her name's Illena-has been caring for her." Quin said. "She's a nice woman. Pretty, too."

Jaelyn looked at him with a smirk. "Does my Quin have a crush?"

The halfling sat up quickly, an expression of embaressment on his face. "What? Hey, just because I said she's pretty doesn't mean I have a crush on her."

He might have been convincing if his face hadn't gone beet-red.

Quin got back into his comfortable position once again. "Besides, she _is_ someone's wife."

"That doesn't keep crushes from happening, Quin."

"I'm not crushing!"

Jaelyn laughed at his defensiveness, and let the subject drop.

The three spent the next few hours together, the grownups playing with the baby. During that time, Tega had stopped by to administer some herbs to Jaelyn. Within ten minutes, the herbs had taken effect, causing Jaelyn severe drowsiness.

Quin took Baeylene from her, not without protest from the fatigued half-drow, and started to leave with her. He paused at the threshold and looked back at her.

Tega was helping her to lay back on the bed.

"I almost forgot to tell you," Quin said. "Gulaonar went out earlier to go find you-know-who."

Jaelyn nodded at she settled back onto her pillow. "Thanks, Quin."

He nodded and left the shelter.

A moment later, Jaelyn was fast asleep, and she dreamt of him.

**xxxxxxxxxxx**

Even in her dream-state she was aware of it.

A rough hand on her face...the familiar scents of leather, dirt, and smoke...

Those things pushed sleep away.

Jaelyn breathed deep and opened her eyes.

Her vision was blurry and she felt extremely muddled. That was from the herbs Tega had given her, she knew. They always made her feel soupy after she woke up from the sleep they induced.

It was dark outside and a small candle on the nearby table only gave the hut a dim, warm glow, but it was enough to see by when her vision finally focused.

He was sitting beside her on the bed, staring down at her with an unreadable expression and a small dent in his brow.

Jaelyn smiled at him and tried to reach out to him with her right hand, wondering if he was real or if she was still stuck in a dream. She forgot her right arm and hand were the ones that didn't work and the slight movement she made caused a small but intense wave of pain, putting to rest any idea that she was still dreaming. That pain was all too real.

She winced at it and let out a small moan.

Bishop gave her a faint smirk and shook his head. "Relax. Don't bother trying to kill yourself on my account. You already tried that once and almost succeeded."

She laughed softly. "And I imagine you're just dying to scold me for it."

He shrugged." I should...but I'm not going to."

"No?" She paused for a moment in genuine surprise then pressed on. "Are you okay?"

"Maybe, maybe not. I don't know yet." He snorted. "There's a good chance you've driven me mad."

"If this is the result, it must be a good kind of mad."

"_Is_ there a good kind?"

"Isn't that what love is? A good kind of madness?"

He frowned. "If you're trying to get me to admit it-"

"I don't have to." she cut him off. "You're here; you came back. That's proof."

Bishop's frown diminished and was replaced by a smirk. He leaned down to her, so close that his scent and warmth overwhelmed her. "Who's to say I didn't come back to kill you?"

"You would've done it by now. You could've done it while I was asleep." She matched his smirk. "Besides, you already thought I was dead. I doubt you'd come back to kill a corpse."

He smiled a genuine smile. "Got me there."

_Hells, she's got me period. And I don't even care anymore._

It felt good not caring. It felt good not having to fight and struggle with it anymore. He should've given in a long time ago, saved himself the damn trouble.

Jaelyn reached out with her left hand this time, caressing his face with the back of her fingers. "Does this mean you're going to stay even after we get back to the mainland?"

"I'll be around." He smirked. "As long as I stay interested."

She laughed lightly. "Then I must find ways to keep you interested."

"Shouldn't be too hard for you."

Bishop kissed her then, firmly and with his hand in her hair. It lasted for several warm, fervent moments then he drew back slowly.

"Go back to sleep." he said and then moved to get up from the bed.

Jaelyn halted him, her left hand wrapping around his wrist. "Stay."

He looked down at her with uncertainty.

"It doesn't have to be an all-the-time thing if you don't want it to be." she said. "But for tonight...stay with me. You look like you need the rest, anyway." She smiled. "And well, after you tore up your hut, you really don't have a place to sleep now, do you?"

Bishop made a face. "How'd you know about that?"

"Quin. How do you think?"

"Big mouth runt."

Jaelyn smirked and scooted over in her bed, wincing at the pain it caused when she moved. She then looked at him and gave the spot she made for him a pat with the hand she could move.

"Please."

He gave his eyes a half-hearted roll and then heaved an exaggerated sigh. "If you must insist..."

Bishop moved into the empty spot on the bed and stretched out beside her with a true sigh. It felt good to lay down in a bed, and it was made even better by her being in it with him even if they couldn't do what he wanted to do.

It was peaceful, and after all the hell they'd been through, they both could use a little peace.

Jaelyn shifted until she was pressed against his side. He moved an arm around her, holding her against him as she laid her head on his chest and closed her eyes.

It wasn't long before both were lulled into the land of Nod by the sounds of night around them and the comfort of the others' presence.


	47. Chapter 47: Sailing Home

**xxxxxx**

* * *

**Chapter Forty-Seven**

**Sailing Home**

**xxxxxx**

**A** little over a month later, Jaelyn Sharpshadow stood at the bed in her old hut, stuffing her belongings in her pack and humming under her breath.

Now that Tega had given her the okay to travel, the trio were looking forward to heading back to the mainland. She would certainly miss the island, but she missed her family, she missed ale and having a decent bed to sleep on. More than anything, she wanted to get Baeylene to the dragon clan as soon as possible.

Although her leg wasn't completely healed yet, it was still good enough for her to walk on with the aid of a crutch now that her arm was healed. She'd taken plenty of walks in the past week but most of those had been just around the village. The trip to the boat would be the longest journey she'd take since having her leg broken.

She thanked the Gods that they were bringing along the cart. Jaelyn wasn't certain she could travel all that way on a crutch and she definitely wasn't going to be carried around like a child.

She cinched her pack closed and knotted it up. She then pulled her bow over one shoulder, lifted her pack onto the other, and reached out for her sword, the purple-glowing weapon that had once belonged to her now-dead father. She used it as a second crutch to balance herself out as she exited her hut.

The cart sat on the south end of the village and a few natives were loading things on to it; baskets of fruit and meat, blankets, clothes made especially for them, and whatever else the kind people thought their heroes might need for the long trip home.

Kalandiin was there, lending a hand to the natives. Quin and Gulaonar stood nearby, talking to Olland with Grimnar standing loyally at his side.

The halfling noticed her the moment she came out of her hut. He excused himself and hurried over to her to give her a hand.

"Oh, here, let me help you with that." Quin offered, reaching for her pack.

Jaelyn shook her head and pushed him lightly in the chest with the end of her crutch to ward him off. "I'm perfectly capable of carrying my own pack a few yards, Quin." Her voice was light, but there was irritation underneath it. The halfling's kindness and courtesy had been excessive in the past month. She was tired of him acting like she was going to fall apart at the slightest thing.

"Yeah, but you shouldn't put anymore weight on your leg if you can help it."

She laughed. "I'll be all right, Quin. I'm just going to the cart."

"Well...okay. But I'll be right here if you need me."

Jaelyn sighed. "I wish you would stop fretting over me."

"I can't help it." he replied. "You almost died."

"I know it. But I'm not dead, I'm fine. And I won't be dying anytime soon. So stop your fretting."

Quin merely sighed as they continued their short walk over to the cart.

Jaelyn tossed her pack on it, then placed her bow and sword next to her pack. She looked at Quin and gave an exagerrated labored breath, then pretended to wipe sweat from her brow. She did all this with a grin.

The halfling made a face. "Oh, ha ha. Very funny."

Jaelyn laughed and smacked him companionably on the back. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yep." He sighed. "You know, I like this place, and the natives and all, but it'll be good to get back home."

"For once, I agree with the little shit." said Bishop, suddenly appearing from his shelter behind them. He dumped his pack on the cart and turned to them. "And the sooner we're gone from here, the better. I don't care to ever see this place again."

"There were some good times here." Quin said.

The ranger crossed his arms over his chest. "Not many. Even with the ones there are, this place is still about as interesting as listening to your Shadow Thief stories."

"Hey!" Quin cried. "You wouldn't know a good story if it walked up and kicked you in the groin."

Jaelyn laughed, put her arm around the halfling, and steered the coversation away from an argument. "So, my friend, what will you do when we get to the mainland?"

"Well...first and foremost, I'm going to find an inn, get myself a nice room and eat the biggest meal in the world!" he replied, throwing his arms wide. "After that, I'm going to count all the gold and jewels from the cave that we got loaded on the boat. Can't wait for that. What're you going to do?"

"I'll be joining you at the inn." she said with a smile. "At least for one day. Then I'm going to take my sister to the dragon clan. I'd like you both to come with me. I mean, if you wanted to."

"I thought this clan home of yours was forbidden to outsiders?" Bishop asked.

"It is, but the two of you can come along on the journey until I have to go on my own." She grinned. "It might be fun!"

"Maybe."

"Is that a yes, then?"

Bishop smirked. "Maybe. We have to get to Faerun alive first."

"You make it sound as if there's a chance we'll die on the way back." Jaelyn replied with a frown.

He shrugged. "Who knows what'll happen? Besides, the three of us-four if you count the other drow-don't exactly have experience with navigating a ship. There's a pretty good chance we'll end up shipwrecked. If that happens, go ahead and put me out of my misery."

"Don't be such a Negative Nancy." Quin scolded.

"A Negative _what_?"

"Never mind." Quin said, waving a dismissive hand in the air. "We're going to be fine. Navigating a ship isn't as hard as you might think. All we have to know is which direction to go, then we just steer the ship that way. Seeing as how you both are rangers, I don't see how we can go wrong."

"Not convinced." said Bishop. "But there ain't much of a choice, is there? All I'll say is, pray we don't sail into a storm." He looked over at Jaelyn. "You good to go with that leg?"

She shrugged. "We'll see. I have my handy crutch." She gave the wooden stick she was leaning on a little wave. "I'm definitely not going to be up to my normal traveling pace, though."

"I wouldn't worry about that since we're going to be pulling _that_ thing along." He jerked a thumb at the cart. "I don't want us taking too many breaks on the way, though. So, if you need help, give a yell. I'll carry you if I have to."

"No, you won't." she said. "If I can't walk anymore, I'll ride on the cart. Besides, you and Kalandiin have to pull the cart along. Quin's too small."

"Hey!" the halfling protested.

Jaelyn looked at him. "Really? You think you can pull it with all that stuff on it?"

Quin looked at the cart, studying it for a moment and then frowned. "Well, fine, but you didn't have to put it like that."

She reached out and ruffled his hair with a smile. "Sorry."

"Well, it looks like our time together has come to an end." said a voice from behind the trio.

They all looked around at Gulaonar, who hovered there between Olland and Grimnar. Both men stood proud with their new weapons and with a fresh tattoo on their left arms.

Jaelyn briefly wondered what they were going to do when they ran out of places on their bodies for the tribal ink. Olland was pretty heavily tattooed already. Grimnar had a ways to go yet, but he was getting there.

She looked at Gulaonar and offered a warm smile. "So it has. I would hug you, but, well, seeing as-"

The ghost's laughter cut her off. "It's all right. I wish you could stay longer, but I understand that you must return home. I would've liked to get to know you better."

"You know what matters."

He inclined his head. "Very true." He gave her a look of regret then. "There has been something I've wanted to say to you since the fighting ended. I'm sorry."

Behind her, she heard Bishop say under his breath, "You should be."

She rose a brow, ignoring the man. "For what?"

"For the harsh burden that fell on your shoulders."

Jaelyn frowned a bit. "Oh..." She shook her head and then gave him her warm smile again. "It's all right. It had to be done."

"And you handled that burden with such grace. I'm very proud of you." He moved toward her until he was hovering right before her. His ghostly eyes stared into hers. "I'm also sorry for whatever grief it causes you, now or in the future. I'm truly very sorry. If I could have taken your place, if I could have-"

"But you couldn't." Jaelyn interrupted him. "Like you said to me once before, all this happened for a reason. I was meant to kill him. I had to kill him. But it's in the past now, and that's where it should stay. Don't worry for me, uncle. I'm alive and well, and I have my friends. I'll be fine."

Gulaonar smiled and nodded. "You will." He looked over her shoulder at the other two. "Both of you take good care of her."

Quin produced his inane grin. "You bet!"

The ranger gave the ghost a nasty smirk. "We'll do better than you at it, at any rate."

Gulaonar narrowed his eyes at the man and shook his head. "You wretched son of a bitch."

Bishop's smirk turned into a grin, then, placing a hand over his chest, he gave a mock bow.

Jaelyn let out a groan and rubbed the bridge of her nose in vexation. Even at the end of all things, those two still couldn't see eye to eye.

She dropped her hand and looked at Gulaonar. She pushed the moment on before either could make it worse. She didn't want to leave this place on a sour note. There'd been too many of those already.

"What will you do now?"

The ghost shrugged. "I will stay until my time comes to move on. My purpose here is not quite finished yet."

"Wherever you go, I hope it's a nice place."

"As do I. What will you do with the sword?"

"I'll keep it and use it for good." Her brows furrowed. "I want to find a way to break the curse on it...to free our ancestors' souls."

Gulaonar watched her for a moment and then nodded. "I understand your desire to, but I don't think there is a way to break it." He smiled. "Still, I wish you luck. If there truly is a way, I'm sure you'll find it. Well, I will head off to the shore now and meet you there. I'm almost certain the natives will need my help getting the ship into the water."

With that, the ghost floated off into the woods and soon disappeared from sight.

Jaelyn then turned to Olland and the two shared a smile. The native leader came forward and then to her complete surprise, he knelt down before her on one knee as if he might propose marriage to her. He pounded the left side of his chest with his right fist three times. On the third, he left his fist there over his heart and bowed his head. Grimnar went to one knee and mimiced his leader, pounding over his heart three times with his right fist and then bowing his head. All around the trio, the gathered natives followed suit until everyone was kneeling before them.

It made Jaelyn feel like royalty.

She looked over her shoulder at her friends with an expression of inquiry. Both males gave a shrug in return.

"Some form of farewell?" Quin ventured.

When Olland rose to his feet, Jaelyn turned back and saw the rest of the natives rising as well. The few men that had been loading things on the cart went back to work, putting on the last few items.

"What is it that you just did?" she asked in the only language they could communicate in-drow.

"It is the way my people show respect in its highest form. " Olland replied. "I only wish there was more I could do for you and your friends in return for all you've done for us, but I'm afraid that is a debt that cannot be repaid."

Jaelyn shook her head. "Whether it can or not...you owe us nothing."

Well, they didn't owe her or Quin anything. She had a feeling Bishop wouldn't feel the same way as they did, however. It was a good thing he didn't understand the drow language.

Olland smiled at her, the first warm smile he'd ever given her. "Your words are kind. And I must admit, I was wrong about you. In the beginning, I had thought you were no different than the other drow here, but you are far different, far _better_."

"Thank you. It means a lot to hear that."

"I hope your journey home is a safe and pleasant one." He held his hand out to her and she took it. "I would come see you off, but I have duties to attend to here. I will send with you a small group of my people to help you load up your boat. And my wife will be by shortly with your sister."

Jaelyn nodded, shaking his hand. "Thank you."

Olland bowed his head. "If you ever find yourself on the island again, you are always welcome here. You and your friends. Farewell and a safe journey to you."

As Olland went on his way, Grimnar stepped up to Jaelyn and eyed her with a somewhat intimidating expression. He might have been sizing her up for a fight. Then his perpetually hardened face softened as much as it could.

"I was also wrong about you." he admitted. "And I want to apologize for the way I treated you. You are truly a warrior. It was an honor knowing you, even though we never really saw eye to eye, and...it was an honor to share the champion ring with you, as well."

Jaelyn looked at the large man with a shocked expression. For a moment, all she could do was stare at him with her mouth open a bit.

"I don't know what to say." she finally said.

Grimnar held up a hand and shook his head. "Your words are not necessary."

She smiled and reached up, giving his shoulder a friendly pat. "It was an honor knowing you as well." She laughed. "I don't think I'll ever forget our fight in the champion ring."

"Nor will I."

He stood there for a moment with an uncertain look on his face, then, before Jaelyn knew what was going to happen, Grimnar threw his large arms around her in a bear hug, lifting her slightly off the ground.

The man was unaware of his own strength and it literally felt like a bear was hugging her. She made a strangled sound when his grip tightened, and she heard movement behind her as her friends stepped forward to her rescue.

"It's okay." she wheezed at them and patted Grimnar's back, awkwardly.

The man let her go with a sheepish grin. "May your journey be safe and swift."

After getting her breath back, Jaelyn said, "Thanks, Grimnar. Take care of yourself and your people."

"I will."

The large man stepped past her and looked at her friends. He gave Quin's hair a rough tousle, making the sandy-blond strands stand up in every direction. The halfling made a face at the large man and then ran his hands through his hair to straighten it back up as much as he could. He really wished people would stop messing with it

To the ranger, Grimnar merely frowned and gave a curt nod of acknowledgement, then he was off on his way, heading in the direction his leader had gone.

"Looks like you changed his opinion of you." Quin noted with a grin.

Jaelyn chuckled. "It would appear so."

A few moments later, Kalandiin made his way over to them.

"The cart is loaded and ready to go." he informed. "When you are."

"Shouldn't be long now." Jaelyn replied. "We're just waiting on Olland's wife to bring my sister."

The male drow rose a brow. "Sister?"

"Well, half-sister. She was born not too long ago in one of your secret hideouts."

"Ah, yes." he nodded. "The child that was to be terminated. I was the one that escorted Ethedriira to that place."

Jaelyn gave him a sour look. "Of course, you were."

Kalandiin shrugged. "Only a fool would disobey orders from Dresmor."

"Only a fool would follow orders that aren't right." Jaelyn shot back.

"Only a fool follows orders." Bishop amended.

Both drow looked at him and the man shrugged as if to say _that's just my opinion on the matter._

"I didn't care either way whether the child was terminated or not. I had my orders, I followed them. End of story." Kalandiin pressed on. "So, the child lives and the mother dies. What an odd turn of events."

"How do you know she's dead?"

"It doesn't take a genius to figure it out. She isn't here in the village and she hasn't been seen since being taken to that place. I presume she's rotting there along with the native children that died."

A tint of red blazed deep in Jaelyn's green eyes. "Children you _murdered_, you mean!"

"_I_ murdered no one." he replied calmly. "At least, I murdered no native children."

Jaelyn scoffed. "I'm sure if given the chance you would."

"Think what you will. Your opinion matters little to me." Kalandiin replied with a petulant tone. "When you are ready, I will be waiting near the cart."

She sneered at his back as he returned to the cart and leaned back against it, patiently waiting to leave.

"Great." she groused. "Stuck for a tenday or more on a boat with _him_."

Bishop smirked. "We could always throw him overboard."

Jaelyn smiled, wickedly. "That sounds like a good plan."

Quin looked up between them. "You two can't be serious."

"Why not?" Jaelyn asked. "He deserves it!"

"Well, he did save Bishop's life, you know. And he did help out with the fight."

"That little bastard didn't save my life." the ranger said, heatedly. "What he did was torture me. He's lucky he's still breathing."

Jaelyn nodded. "And the only reason he removed that poisonous spider thing from him was because you promised him safety from Dresmor, Quin. Otherwise, he wouldn't have done it."

"I'm just saying it's not right." Quin replied with a sigh.

"Well, we'll just see how it goes. If he keeps up the way he's going, I'm all for throwing him in the middle of the ocean."

"Don't be surprised if you wake up one morning to find him gone." Bishop said, ominously.

"Haven't you gotten your revenge on him already?" Quin said with a frown. "You did rob him of two fingers, if I remember correctly."

Jaelyn stared at Bishop. "You did that?"

The ranger shrugged. "He had it coming."

"And here I thought all that torturing him was simply to get him to help us get down into the cavern." the halfling stated, rolling his eyes.

Jaelyn looked between them. "What're you talking about?"

"Dresmor warded the door into the cavern." Quin explained. "We couldn't get down there to you without Kalandiin's...erm, help."

"He helped, all right." Bishop laughed, devilishly.

Quin merely shook his head in exasperation.

Jaelyn continued to stare between them, not fully understanding what they were talking about. She decided she was probably better off not knowing.

Quin's exasperation suddenly turned into cheerfulness as something in the village caught his attention. He gave his goofy smile and nodded ahead.

"Here she comes."

Jaelyn looked over her shoulder to see Olland's wife making her way toward them, holding against her a bundle of lavender cloth. There was also a small whicker basket hanging from her right arm.

The half-drow looked back at her friend and gave a knowing smile. Quin didn't notice. He was too busy staring at the woman, his hands running swiftly through his hair once again to straighten it up before she arrived. He then stood tall(or as tall as a halfling could manage) with his chest puffed out.

Olland's wife-Illena, as Quin had said her name was-arrived with a smile and tears staining her cheeks. She gently handed the bundled infant over to Jaelyn and wiped a hand across her eyes.

"I will miss her." she said. "She is a good child. I put together this basket for her. It has just about everything she will need for the journey."

When the woman handed off the basket, Quin nearly fell over himself to get it.

"Here, I'll take it." he offered with a grin full of sunshine.

Illena handed him the basket with a warm smile and then reached out to pat the halfling on the cheek. Quin's face burned a bright red and he averted his eyes as the native woman and his friend went back to talking.

No one noticed the halfling's blush. No one but Bishop. And the chance to tease the halfling couldn't be resisted.

"I didn't think you had it in you, half-man."

Quin didn't look at him when he responded. His face still felt too warm to make eye contact with anyone.

"Huh? What're you talking about?"

"Chasing after a married woman."

Now Quin looked at him. His face, still red, carried a slight expression of guilt. He'd been caught red-handed(or red-faced).

"W-what? I don't know what you're talking about! I-I'm not chasing." the halfling sputtered.

The ranger smirked. "Perhaps not. But you want to. Too little too late."

Quin made a face at him. "Oh, shut up!"

He turned around and stomped off toward the cart to load the basket onto it, then he perched himself on the cart where there was room.

When Jaelyn and the woman finally said their farewells and parted ways, the half-drow ranger stood there for a moment, taking a mental photograph of the village. When it was placed in her mental picture album under the label of Places Never To Be Forgotten, she let out a sigh and turned to her companions.

"My friends, let's go home."

**xxxxxxxxxx**

It took two days to reach the shore.

Jaelyn was able to travel through the first half of both days, then her leg would start aching and she would have to sit on the back of the cart the rest of the way.

Bishop and Kalandiin shared the cart-pulling duty with the natives. Whenever one got too tired, a native took their place. There were shift changes about twice a day and when the need for the shift arose, they also took the time to take a fifteen minute break.

They made better time than Bishop had expected, despite the encumbering cart. The damn thing weighed a ton, but he'd been assured by Jaelyn that they needed everything on it.

He didn't doubt her. The supplies they had been given probably weren't enough to last the trip home, but he kept that unsavory thought to himself. They would have to ration everything to make it last. That was the only choice they had.

When the beach finally came into view on their second day of travel, the ranger was overcome by a wave of relief.

The vessel that would take them home was already anchored out in the water and it had no trouble staying afloat. He was more than a little surprised by this. Whatever the natives had used to patch up the hole in the side of the ship was working just fine for now. But its greatest test was out in the open sea.

He'd be lying if he said he wasn't a little worried. It was a long way to the mainland, and if they sailed into a storm...well, he wasn't certain the ship could handle it.

Bishop tried not to think about that as he and Kalandiin struggled to pull the cart across the sand. It stalled once, twice, and then on the third time, they gave it up and left it there halfway across the beach.

Jaelyn's head popped up over the top of the stacked supplies, a look of inquiry on her face.

"Why have we stopped?"

"I'm not pulling this damn thing anymore." Bishop replied, laboring to catch his breath and leaning back against the cart, wiping an arm across his perspiring face.

Kalandiin wasn't doing much better. The drow was breathing much harder than the human and sweating more profusely. He also looked ready to collapse.

Jaelyn's head disappeared and the two males could hear her rummaging around back there, then her voice called out, "Hey!"

A canteen went sailing over the top of the cart right at Bishop. Keen reflexes had him catching it casually with his right hand. He took a few long, refreshing drinks from it, then looked over at Kalandiin.

There was a part of him that wanted to drink every last drop of water in front of him or to pour it all out into the sand just so he couldn't have it, but he didn't do it.

With a look of total indignation, he shoved the canteen into the drow's chest and then made his way up the beach toward the shade. Kalandiin stared after him with a risen brow and then took a drink from the offered canteen.

Jaelyn moved off the cart, steadying herself with her crutch. She picked up Baeylene from the little space on the cart Jaelyn had made for her and handed her off to Quin. She then headed off toward the shore.

Quin watched her for a moment and then called after her, "Would you mind a little company?"

"Not at all."

The halfling followed along with the infant drow safely in his arms.

As the two walked the shoreline, the natives that had come with them and the ones that had already been on the beach gathered at the cart and began moving the supplies onto the ship via the makeshift boarding ramp that had been constructed.

"How are you doing, Jae?" Quin inquired.

Jaelyn gave him a funny look and a small laugh. "Fine. Why do you ask?"

"I mean, how are you really with everything that's happened? Where's your mind set with everything now?"

She shrugged. "I'm not sure exactly. A part of me knows I had to do what I had to do, but there's also a part of me that insists there had to be another way, a part of me that...grieves, I guess. All my life, I had wanted to know him-my father. Now I will never have that chance, because I killed him. My own flesh and blood!"

Quin put one hand on her arm while his other held the infant close. "There was no chance to get to know him, Jae. Your father died a long time ago. What you destroyed in that cavern was the monster that had killed him. You avenged your father, Jae, you didn't kill him."

Jaelyn didn't reply for some moments as she deeply considered this. Then she smiled a bit and nodded. "Yes, I suppose that's true, isn't it?"

Quin grinned and patted her arm. "Of course! I said it, didn't I? So, it must be true!"

At this, Jaelyn burst into laughter. "Watch it, Quin. You're starting to sound like Bishop."

"Hey, what did I do to warrant insults?"

Chuckling, she reached out and pinched his cheek gently. "I love you, Quin."

"Well, I love you, too, Jae."

They trekked up and down the shoreline in silence, enjoying the sound and sight of the waves crashing on the beach. By the time they made it back to the ship, the natives had finished loading their supplies onto it. They waited on the beach now with Gulaonar. Kalandiin and Bishop were on the deck of the ship already, inspecting things.

"Your vessel awaits, my child." Gulaonar greeted Jaelyn for the last time.

She smiled at him and nodded, a tearful glimmer in her eyes.

Gulaonar returned the smile. "No tears now."

She laughed and wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand. "I told myself I wasn't going to cry, but I'm really going to miss you, the natives, this place..."

"And we are all going to miss you, too." he replied. "But who knows? My spiritual path may cross your corporeal one again."

"I hope so."

"Now, come on, get going. You have a home to return to." He turned to Quin. "And farewell to you, Quince Bramblebrow. Take good care of my niece."

"You bet I will."

"Goodbye, uncle."

Half-drow and halfling began making their way toward the ship and as they boarded the makeshift wooden ramp, Jaelyn paused and looked back.

The natives had gathered behind Gulaonar and the small group lifted their hands and waved to them. Jaelyn waved in return and then stepped onto the deck of the ship.

She felt a little queasy, and she knew it was a symptom of something else, something like homesickness. After all, that island had been their home for almost three months. She'd felt the same way when she'd left the dragon clan for the first time.

Jaelyn stood at the stern and waved at Gulaonar and the natives again while Quin, setting aside the infant in a safe place, hurried over to Bishop and Kalandiin to help them pull up the anchor. The crank mechanism that lifted it was well-rusted, so they were forced to do it by hand. It was a job that needed every hand.

"Hey, drow, get your ass over here and help!" Bishop called across the deck to Jaelyn.

She turned and hurried over after setting her crutch aside. She didn't need it as much as she had it, but she'd gotten used to it being with her. It was more of a simple walking stick now than something she actually needed contant support from.

Jaelyn got in place behind Quin and grabbed a hold of the large chain connected to the anchor. After a count of three from the human ranger, they began pulling the anchor up out of the water. It was incredibly heavy, and by the time they had it up on deck, Jaelyn's leg was aching from the effort.

As Bishop and Kalandiin began working on getting the sail up, Quin hurried across the deck to the navigation wheel. After retrieving her stick, Jaelyn limped over to the halfling.

"Do you know what you're doing?"

"Well, I've tried it once, so yeah, a bit." he replied with a grin. "More than any of the rest of us, at any rate. The problem is we don't know which direction to take. The island was moving, remember? So where the mainland was when we arrived here, it's not in that direction anymore."

Jaelyn burst out laughing, making Quin give her an odd look.

"I don't know why we didn't think of it before," she said. "But we do have a map, _your_ map. The magic one that showed where the island was while on the move."

Now Quin laughed. "What a dolt I am!"

He hurried off toward where all their supplies had been piled and began going through it all for his pack. Once found among the hodge-podge of traveling supplies, he began rummaging through it and let out an exclamation of "Aha!" when he found the map, then he scurried back over to her.

Quin unrolled the map drawn(or magicked) on old, weathered parchment. It showed the island precisely in its position now, quite a long ways to the southwest of Neverwinter's port.

Jaelyn looked at it with dismay. "From here to Neverwinter's port, that's at least a twenty day trip. We should try for another port further to the south. Highcliff, maybe. That'll cut the trip by at least a few days."

"Shouldn't we go over this with the other two?"

Jaelyn waved a dismissive hand in the air. "Bah! I doubt Bishop would disagree with the itinerary and no one cares what Kalandiin thinks."

The halfling shrugged. "All right, then which way is home?"

Jaelyn looked up at the sky, shading her eyes from the sun with her hand. She studied its position without blinding herself and then pointed in the northeast. "That way. Full speed ahead!"

"Tell that to the wind and the sails."

And just as Quin said that, there was a mighty _whap_ as the sail was finally brought up and spread out to catch the wind.

Everyone on the boat stared up at the swelling, white material. The sail was constructed surprisingly well by people who'd never contructed one before. The natives certainly had a future in ship building.

The vessel's wooden structure gave a few creaking sounds as it began moving away from shore. Jaelyn, Kalandiin, and Bishop all looked around at each other with uncertainty.

"It's normal!" Quin called to them from the navigation wheel. "They all make that noise at first."

That set shaky nerves at ease, but only a little.

Jaelyn went over to her little sister where she was gurgling and staring up at the sail in one of the baskets of blankets the natives had given them. She picked up the infant and cradled her close as she went across the deck to the stern.

The natives and Gulaonar were still on the beach, watching as they sailed away. A few of them waved again and she waved back with a sigh.

Some moments later, she was joined by Quin and they stood there in silence and watched as the people they had come to know grew smaller and smaller on an island that grew further and further away.

**xxxxxxxxxx**

"Is it wise to let that drow man the ship?"

Quin and Jaelyn both turned slightly to look at Bishop.

Jaelyn shrugged. "He should be all right. If he does something treacherous, he does it to himself as well. Besides, it'll give him something to do instead of bothering us. Where did _you_ go?"

"Below deck, checking to see if we're taking on water."

"And?"

"Dry as Anauroch." he replied. "Looks good for now, which surprises the hells out of me."

"Future ship builders." Quin remarked with a smirk.

"I doubt they'd ever be able to contruct a ship like this." Bishop said, leaning back against the ship's wooden railing between Jaelyn and Quin. "But they're full of surprises, I'll give 'em that."

Jaelyn grinned. "Oh, they finally grew on you."

He snorted. "I didn't say that."

She only smiled and looked back out at the shrinking island. He didn't have to say it, she knew they had. Somewhere along the line, they had gained his respect, even if it was only a small portion of it. She knew it for the fact that he had pretty much stopped berating them for being cowards and didn't sneer and scowl at them half as much as he had when he'd first met them.

If he'd realized this, he probably would've thought he was going soft. Jaelyn merely thought he was gradually gaining a more compassionate soul. Gods knew he needed one.

"Stop reading into it." Bishop said, breaking the silence.

Jaelyn looked at him in surprise as he gave her a calculating stare.

"Reading into...? What?" she replied. "How could you possibly know-"

"I know." he cut her off. "'Cause I know _you_."

Quin looked between them and shook his head with a grin. "What? Are you two reading each others' mind now? Next you're going to start finishing each others' sentences." He laughed.

"Shut up!" both rangers responded in unison.

Quin laughed again. "Well, I hope I'm invited to the wedding."

They both gave the halfling the same appalled expression.

"I hate to burst your bubble, Quin, but this drow is _never_ getting married."

Bishop looked at her with an expression of true surprise. He didn't think it was possible to love her anymore, but there it was, that 'love' feeling wrecking havoc tenfold on his insides. It actually left him feeling queasy in a butterflies-in-the-stomach kind of way.

"Glad we're on the same page." he said to her. "Nothing as pointless as marriage. Leave that to the religious and city-folk who actually think it matters."

Quin pouted. "How disappointing. I like a good wedding."

"Then get married yourself." Jaelyn opted.

"Don't think it's never crossed my mind." Quin replied. "I just haven't found the right woman yet."

The ranger smirked. "Or at least one that isn't already married."

Quin frowned and put his hands on his hips. "For the last time, I wasn't chasing after her!"

"If you say so."

The halfling let out an annoyed groan. "I'm going on the other side of the ship now, far away from _you_."

Jaelyn gestured her infant sister at him. "While you're at it, take her and a few blankets for her below deck for me."

"All right." Quin said as he took the baby from her and headed off toward the mound of supplies.

Jaelyn turned back and leaned forward on the railing as she looked out across the water with the wind in her hair.

The island was nothing more than a green and brown splotch on the horizon now. Soon, they would no longer be able to see it at all.

Bishop turned to lean forward on the railing beside her and stared at his hands as he desperately sought the courage he needed to say what he was about to say. No matter how hard it was for him, she deserved to know, to have it put in words.

"There's something I've been meaning to tell you." he said at last.

Jaelyn looked at him, but he continued staring at his hands. The courage wasn't quite there yet and he struggled to go on.

Instinctively or perhaps intuitively, Jaelyn knew what was coming and she found her heart quickening in anticipation, yet she reached out and grasped his hand in her own, giving it a light squeeze.

"When you need to." she said. "When you want to and when you can. Only then."

She began to draw her hand back, but he gripped it tight before she could and straightened up from the railing to face her.

The courage was there now. No more holding back; no more fighting with it.

He stared down into her eyes and then those words flowed out of him almost as naturally as his sarcasm.

"I love you."

Jaelyn smiled and there was much happiness in it, but before she could reply, Bishop pulled her up against him and kissed her soundly.

When they finally drew apart, her joyous smile turned into a playful smirk.

"I know." she said. "It just means you're a fool."

He laughed, and although it naturally sounded like it belonged to a devil(and more or less did), the reason for it was what made it sound so wonderful to her. "Damn right it does."

Her laughter joined his and they turned back together to stare out at the water as their ship sailed out of the past and into the future.

* * *

_Well, I'm proud to say I can finally give this the ol' 'Complete' status._

_It's been an interesting journey, and although I had my ups and downs with this story, I still had tons of fun. I hope you did, too._

_I'd like to thank my reviewers(Listed in order of when they reviewed): **Mira Maerin, Arc Ascendent, GraphiteHeron, Velvet, Madhatt, Gaspode, Kaana Moonshadow, Midge, Kendallvon, AnnikaLisbethCousland**, and **APen'sSoul**.(I'll be keeping an eye out for anymore reviews in the future and those people will be added to the list if/when they come). I really appreciate the time you took to not only read the story, but also to leave an honest review for me. It means a lot._

_And to you, **Loyal Readers**, the ones who could put up with my many mistakes and stay with this until the end, **thank you**. You're all wonderful and I love you. :) Not in a weird, perverted way. :P_

_**What's Next**: Some of you may be looking forward to the next part of this story, but I've gotten side-tracked by another story I'm writing and it's become my priority now. Don't hate me. Well, you can, but it wouldn't be very nice. After all, when new inspiration comes strolling along, you don't just ignore it and let it pass you by. You kidnap it and keep it locked up in your 'basement' until you've bled it dry. Er...kind of a dark way of looking at it...but yeah. Anyway, the one I'm working on now is for the GTA universe. This time around, I'll be trying my hand at writing Niko Bellic, another awesome dude who won me over with sarcasm. I'm thinking it won't take me long to write it; it's certainly not going to be as long as this story was. Should have the first chapter for it uploaded around the start of September. So if you're a fan, keep an eye out for it._

_Until next time, my lovlies..._


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